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Hy VS Jython

Compare Hy VS Jython and see what are their differences

Hy logo Hy

Hy is a wonderful dialect of Lisp thatโ€™s embedded in Python.

Jython logo Jython

Jython, successor of JPython, is an implementation of the Python programming language written in...
  • Hy Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-30
  • Jython Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-26

Hy features and specs

  • Python Interoperability
    Hy seamlessly integrates with Python, allowing you to use the entire Python ecosystem while writing your code in a Lisp-like syntax. This interoperability makes it easier for developers familiar with Python to experiment with Lisp's syntax and ideas.
  • Lisp Syntax and Macros
    Hy provides Lisp's powerful macro system and syntax, enabling more expressive and concise code. The ability to create macros can lead to highly customizable and domain-specific solutions.
  • Readability
    For those familiar with Lisp, Hy offers increased readability due to its minimal syntax and symbolic expressions. This can lead to more straightforward reasoning about the code and reduced syntactic noise.
  • Compiles to Python
    Hy code is compiled to Python bytecode, allowing it to run on any environment where Python is available. This ensures good performance and compatibility with existing Python tools and utilities.

Possible disadvantages of Hy

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For developers not familiar with Lisp, Hy's syntax and concepts (like macros) can be difficult to grasp initially. This can slow down development time as developers need to learn new paradigms.
  • Limited Adoption
    Hy is not as widely adopted or supported as some other languages or even other Lisp implementations. This can lead to less community support, fewer third-party libraries written specifically for Hy, and potentially more difficulty finding solutions to problems.
  • Debugging Complexity
    Debugging in Hy can sometimes be more challenging because errors may occur in the compiled Python code rather than the original Hy code, which can complicate traceback and error understanding.
  • Macro Overuse
    While macros are a powerful feature, their misuse can lead to code that is hard to read and maintain. This can become a con if developers do not exercise restraint and best practices in their use.
  • Performance Overhead
    While Hy compiles to Python, the added layer of abstraction and translation may introduce small performance overheads compared to writing natively in Python, especially for performance-critical applications.

Jython features and specs

  • Seamless Java Integration
    Jython allows Python code to seamlessly integrate with Java libraries, enabling the use of robust Java frameworks and existing Java codebases in Python scripts.
  • Dynamic Typing
    Jython retains the dynamic typing features of Python, which can make it easier to write flexible and concise code compared to statically typed languages like Java.
  • Python Syntax
    Developers familiar with Python can take advantage of its simple and clear syntax while still being able to work within a Java environment.
  • Platform Independence
    Jython runs on any platform that supports the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), making it a good choice for developing cross-platform applications.

Possible disadvantages of Jython

  • Performance Overheads
    Due to its dependence on the JVM, Jython scripts might not be as performance-efficient as native Python (CPython), especially for computation-intensive tasks.
  • Limited Extension Support
    Jython has limited support for C-based Python extensions and certain Python libraries that rely heavily on C extensions, such as NumPy and SciPy.
  • Version Lag
    Jython often lags behind the latest versions of Python, which means it might not support the newest Python features or libraries that are available in CPython.
  • Complex Deployment
    Deploying Jython applications may require an understanding of both Python and Java environments, which can increase complexity, especially for developers without Java experience.

Hy videos

HY-IMPACT muscle massager review (incredible)

More videos:

  • Review - Cleveland Launcher XL Hy-Wood Review
  • Review - HY Extracts (Jack Herer) Review

Jython videos

๐Ÿ”ฅ What Is Jython? | Jython | What Is Jython Is Used For? #Shorts #Jython | Simplilearn

More videos:

  • Review - Integrating Jython with Java
  • Review - A Graphical User Interface with Jython and Swing

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Hy and Jython)
Programming Language
41 41%
59% 59
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
OOP
25 25%
75% 75
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Hy seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 9 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Hy mentions (9)

  • Python's โ€œDisappointingโ€ Superpowers
    Hy: https://docs.hylang.org/en/stable/ I tend to stick to vanilla python though, mainly because Hy is too much of an hassle for my use cases. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • Why Lisp?
    Q: is there any game dev happening in Lisp? A: https://kandria.com/ and https://itch.io/jam/lisp-game-jam-2022 Q: how do I write a website with Lisp? A: https://lispcookbook.github.io/cl-cookbook/web.html#easy-routes-hunchentoot and https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/manual/html_node/Web-Examples.html Q: do I have to use emacs for developing Lisp? A: No, https://github.com/vlime/vlime and... - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • How trying new programming languages helped me grow as a software engineer
    I really like Hy because it's fully inter-operable with Python. But its documentation is insufficient for anything moderately complex, and its tooling support is pretty basic. If Hy were well documented and supported I'd use it for all my throwaway scripts and prototyping -- today I use Python for that. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Every programmer ever.
    You're looking for https://docs.hylang.org/en/stable. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Val on Programming: What makes a good REPL?
    I've been using the Hy REPL[0] whenever I've wanted to drop into a python REPL. The lack of whitespace formatting with Hy is great, but it still has access to all of python's libraries. [0] - https://docs.hylang.org/en/stable/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago
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Jython mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Jython yet. Tracking of Jython recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Hy and Jython, you can also consider the following products

CLISP - CLISP is a portable ANSI Common Lisp implementation and development environment by Bruno Haible.

C++ - Has imperative, object-oriented and generic programming features, while also providing the facilities for low level memory manipulation

Racket Lang - Racket (formerly PLT Scheme) is a modern programming language in the Lisp/Scheme family, suitable...

Go Programming Language - Go, also called golang, is a programming language initially developed at Google in 2007 by Robert...

Chicken - A portable and efficient cross-platform Scheme implementation that compiles to C.

Perl - Highly capable, feature-rich programming language with over 26 years of development