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Pharo VS Pike programming language

Compare Pharo VS Pike programming language and see what are their differences

Pharo logo Pharo

Pharo is a pure object-oriented programming language and a powerful environment, focused on...

Pike programming language logo Pike programming language

Dynamic programming language with a syntax similar to Java and C
  • Pharo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-26
  • Pike programming language Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-15

Pharo features and specs

  • Integrated Development Environment
    Pharo offers a highly integrated development environment with powerful tools like the inspector, debugger, and playgrounds, enhancing the overall development experience.
  • Live Code Changes
    Pharo supports live coding, allowing developers to make changes and see the effects immediately without the need to stop and restart the application.
  • Rich Libraries
    Pharo comes with a comprehensive set of libraries and frameworks, reducing the need to search for external dependencies and allowing for rapid development.
  • Object-Oriented Language
    Pharo is a true object-oriented language, which makes it natural for modeling real-world scenarios and leveraging the power of polymorphism and inheritance.
  • Community and Support
    Pharo has an active and supportive community that contributes to continuous improvements, tutorials, documentation, and libraries.

Possible disadvantages of Pharo

  • Niche Ecosystem
    Pharo's ecosystem is relatively small compared to more mainstream programming languages, which might make it harder to find libraries, tools, and examples for specific needs.
  • Learning Curve
    Pharo can have a steep learning curve, especially for developers not familiar with Smalltalk or the unique aspects of its environment.
  • Limited Job Market
    Compared to more popular languages like JavaScript or Python, the job market for Pharo developers is limited, potentially making it less attractive for career-oriented developers.
  • Performance Constraints
    While suitable for many kinds of applications, Pharo’s performance might not be on par with languages specifically optimized for high-performance computing or low-level system programming.
  • Documentation
    Although improving, Pharo's documentation may not be as extensive or as easy to navigate as that of more widely-used programming languages, which can be challenging for new users.

Pike programming language features and specs

  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    Pike can run on various platforms, including UNIX-like systems, Windows, and macOS, which makes it versatile for developers working in different environments.
  • Built-in Support for Object-Oriented Programming
    Pike supports object-oriented programming (OOP) paradigms, which allows developers to create reusable and modular code structures.
  • Efficient String and Data Handling
    Pike provides robust tools for handling strings and other data types, which simplifies text processing and parsing tasks.
  • Garbage Collection
    Automated memory management via garbage collection helps in reducing memory leaks, aiding developers in focusing more on application logic than memory management.
  • Rich Standard Library
    Pike offers a comprehensive standard library with modules for network programming, cryptography, multimedia handling, and more, aiding rapid development.

Possible disadvantages of Pike programming language

  • Relatively Niche Community
    Pike has a smaller user community compared to more popular languages, which can result in less community support, fewer tutorials, and limited third-party libraries.
  • Less Corporate Backing
    Unlike languages backed by large corporations, Pike may lack extensive development resources and long-term support guarantees.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers coming from more mainstream languages, Pike's syntax and concepts may take some time to get used to, prolonging the initial learning process.
  • Limited Integration with New Technologies
    The slower pace of updates and limited resources might make Pike fall behind in integrating the latest technological advancements and trends.
  • Scalability Challenges
    While suitable for small to medium-sized projects, Pike might pose challenges when used for very large systems requiring advanced concurrency management.

Analysis of Pharo

Overall verdict

  • Pharo is generally considered good, especially for developers who appreciate a clean, object-oriented programming environment. Its benefits include ease of use, powerful development tools, and an active support community, which make it a strong candidate for many programming projects.

Why this product is good

  • Pharo is an open-source, dynamically-typed programming language and environment that is focused on simplicity and immediate feedback. It's built around the idea of live coding and offers powerful tools for software development, including a modern version of the Smalltalk language. It is particularly appreciated for its elegant syntax, object-oriented design, and innovative development environment which allows for immediate testing and debugging. Pharo also has a strong and active community, providing support and a library of resources and packages.

Recommended for

  • Developers interested in object-oriented programming
  • Individuals looking for a live coding environment
  • Educational purposes and teaching programming concepts
  • Projects that require rapid prototyping and iteration
  • Developers who enjoy experimenting with new languages and paradigms

Pharo videos

Black Ops 3 In Depth: Pharo Burst Fire SMG Review (Best SMG?)

Pike programming language videos

No Pike programming language videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Pharo and Pike programming language)
Programming Language
64 64%
36% 36
OOP
60 60%
40% 40
Generic Programming Language
Development
36 36%
64% 64

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Pharo should be more popular than Pike programming language. It has been mentiond 34 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.

Pharo mentions (34)

  • The Xerox Alto, Smalltalk, and Rewriting a Running GUI
    Someone replied to one of my recent posts with this modern Smalltalk implementation: https://pharo.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 1 day ago
  • Ask HN: How Are Parents Who Program Teaching Their Kids Today?
    There is a turtle graphics framework in the Python standard library: https://docs.python.org/3/library/turtle.html Pharo is a cross-platform implementation of the classic Smalltalk-80 programming language and runtime system: https://pharo.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 days ago
  • _M2dir: Treating mails as files without going crazy
    Pharo/SmallTalk seem to also explore the ideas akin to this. (https://pharo.org/) to be fair the current state of affairs is similar enough with file extensions + mime info if you squint hard enough and pretend that app and systems folders files don't exist but it's held with pinky promises. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Enlightenmentware
    Smalltalk and as a particular case Pharo is an example of this for me. (https://pharo.org/). When I was in uni a paper that I always came back to was Licklider's 1960s paper on human-computer symbiosis (https://worrydream.com/refs/Licklider_1960_-_Man-Computer_Symbiosis.pdf) "[...]to enable men and computers to cooperate in making decisions and controlling complex situations without inflexible dependence on... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Why don't schools teach debugging, or, more fundamentally, fundamentals?
    I think in part it's because the idea that programming is text and math-based is too ingrained in society. For example, we talk about programming languages. But IMO there are also programming systems such as Smalltalk [1]. I've programmed 2 years professionally in it, currently looking for an engagement in a different language (a curiosity thing, also a resume thing). I think Smalltalk has a lot to offer by... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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Pike programming language mentions (4)

  • The C Interpreter: A Tutorial for Cin
    I'm sure I remember Pike starting off as a literal C interpreter, but somewhere along the line decided to become it's own 'C-like' language. https://pike.lysator.liu.se Wikipedia seems to imply that it was separated out from LPmud's built-in 'C interpreter' which sounds about right. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • MUD in Pike
    In any other case, I dunno. I just like it cos it's basically LPC being used outside a MUD. Check out the site though, and maybe play with it too. pike.lysator.liu.se. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Hacker News top posts: May 21, 2022
    Pike Programming Language\ (45 comments). Source: about 3 years ago
  • What's the most obscure ACTUAL programming language?
    Pike (Apparently some Opera browser proxy compression server was written in it.). Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pharo and Pike programming language, you can also consider the following products

Smalltalk - Smalltalk is an object-oriented programming (OOP) language. It is objects all the way down.

D (Programming Language) - D is a language with C-like syntax and static typing.

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

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

F# - F# is a mature, open source, cross-platform, functional-first programming language.

IronPython - Development