Haskell VS Squirrel (programming language)

• Pure Functional Programming
  Haskell emphasizes pure functional programming, meaning functions have no side effects. This leads to code that is easier to understand, test, and maintain.
• Strong Type System
  Haskell's type system is strong and expressive, allowing developers to catch many errors at compile time. This results in more reliable code.
• Lazy Evaluation
  Haskell uses lazy evaluation by default, which can lead to performance improvements by avoiding unnecessary computations and enabling the creation of infinite data structures.
• Immutability
  In Haskell, data is immutable by default. This leads to simpler reasoning about code behavior and reduces bugs related to mutable state.
• High-Level Abstractions
  Haskell provides powerful abstractions like monads, functors, and applicative functors, which can lead to more concise and expressive code.
• Concurrency
  Haskell has excellent support for concurrency and parallelism through its lightweight threading model and software transactional memory, making it suitable for concurrent applications.
• Community and Libraries
  Haskell has a dedicated community and a rich set of libraries and tools, which can help accelerate development and provide solutions to common problems.

Possible disadvantages

• Steep Learning Curve
  Haskell has a steep learning curve, particularly for developers who are new to functional programming or coming from imperative and object-oriented backgrounds.
• Performance Concerns
  While Haskell can be efficient, its performance can sometimes lag behind other languages like C++ or Rust for certain use cases, especially those requiring low-level optimization.
• Limited Industry Adoption
  Haskell is not as widely adopted in industry compared to languages like Java, Python, or JavaScript, which can limit job opportunities and community size.
• Compilation Times
  Haskell's compilation times can be long, especially for large projects, which can slow down the development process.
• Tooling and IDE Support
  While improving, the tooling and IDE support for Haskell is not as mature as for some other popular languages, potentially affecting developer productivity.
• Complexity of Advanced Features
  Some of Haskell's advanced features, such as monads and type-level programming, can be complex and difficult to master, which can be a barrier for new developers.
• Library Gaps
  Although Haskell has many libraries, there might be gaps or less mature libraries for some specific use cases compared to more mainstream languages.

• Lightweight
  Squirrel is designed to be a lightweight scripting language, making it ideal for applications where memory and processing power are limited, such as video games and embedded systems.
• Embeddable
  The language is easily embeddable in C++ programs, allowing integration into a wide variety of applications without significant overhead.
• Object-Oriented
  Squirrel supports object-oriented programming, which helps in organizing code and improves reusability and scalability of scripts.
• Dynamic Typing
  As a dynamically typed language, Squirrel allows more flexible coding patterns and faster prototyping, as variable types do not need to be explicitly defined.
• Coroutines Support
  Squirrel includes support for coroutines, facilitating asynchronous programming and simplifying the management of concurrent tasks.

Possible disadvantages

• Limited Libraries
  The language has a smaller ecosystem compared to more popular scripting languages like Python or Lua, limiting the available libraries and tools.
• Niche Usage
  Squirrel is not as widely used or well-known as some other scripting languages, which can make finding community support or developers familiar with it more challenging.
• Performance
  While adequate for most scripting needs, Squirrel may not deliver performance on par with statically typed languages or languages specifically optimized for performance.
• Learning Curve
  For developers not familiar with C-style syntax or the language’s unique features, there can be a learning curve involved in becoming proficient.
• Documentation
  The quality and quantity of documentation available for Squirrel is limited compared to more mainstream languages, potentially slowing down development.

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Functional Programming & Haskell - Computerphile

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