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Pike programming language VS Squirrel (programming language)

Compare Pike programming language VS Squirrel (programming language) and see what are their differences

Pike programming language logo Pike programming language

Dynamic programming language with a syntax similar to Java and C

Squirrel (programming language) logo Squirrel (programming language)

Squirrel is a high level imperative, object-oriented programming language, designed to be a light-weight scripting language that fits in the size, memory bandwidth, and real-time requirements of applications like video games.
  • Pike programming language Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-15
  • Squirrel (programming language) Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-07

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.

Squirrel (programming language) features and specs

  • 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 of Squirrel (programming language)

  • 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.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Pike programming language and Squirrel (programming language))
Programming Language
55 55%
45% 45
OOP
55 55%
45% 45
Development
53 53%
47% 47
Generic Programming Language

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Pike programming language should be more popular than Squirrel (programming language). It has been mentiond 4 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.

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 / almost 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: about 2 years ago
  • Hacker News top posts: May 21, 2022
    Pike Programming Language\ (45 comments). Source: almost 3 years ago
  • What's the most obscure ACTUAL programming language?
    Pike (Apparently some Opera browser proxy compression server was written in it.). Source: about 3 years ago

Squirrel (programming language) mentions (2)

  • oh, so you think you're controversial?
    Squirrel would like to have a word with this comment. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Generics can make your Go code slower
    * https://v8docs.nodesource.com/node-7.10/d5/dda/classv8_1_1_isolate.html#a24647f61d6b41f69668094bdcd6ea91f A project I worked on had a few points where it had to explicitly call GC multiple times back to back. Intertwined references from C++ -> Squirrel[1] -> C++ -> Squirrel meant the first GC would finalize some C++ objects, which would unroot some Squirrel objects, which would allow some more C++ objects fo be... - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pike programming language and Squirrel (programming language), you can also consider the following products

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...

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

IronPython - Development

Vala - Vala is a new programming language that aims to bring modern programming language features to GNOME...