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F# vs Julia: What are the differences?

<Introduction> F# and Julia are both powerful programming languages with unique features and strengths. Understanding the key differences between the two can help developers choose the right tool for their projects.

  1. Purpose and Paradigm: F# is primarily a functional-first language that runs on the .NET platform, whereas Julia is designed for high-performance numerical and scientific computing with a focus on speed and ease of use.

  2. Syntax and Expressiveness: F# follows a more traditional ML-style syntax with indentation-based structure, while Julia adopts a more flexible syntax with support for multiple dispatch, which allows for more expressive and concise code.

  3. Tooling and Ecosystem: F# has strong integration with Visual Studio and extensive support for Microsoft tools and libraries, making it a popular choice for .NET developers. On the other hand, Julia has a growing ecosystem of packages and tools specifically tailored for numerical computing, machine learning, and data science.

  4. Performance and Compilation: Julia is known for its high performance through just-in-time (JIT) compilation, allowing it to rival the speed of low-level languages like C and Fortran. F#, being a managed language, may not offer the same level of performance optimization in certain scenarios.

  5. Community and Adoption: F# has a mature community and is widely used in enterprise applications, particularly within the finance and domain-driven design sectors. Julia, on the other hand, is gaining popularity in the scientific and academic communities due to its performance and versatility.

  6. Learning Curve and Accessibility: F# might be easier for developers coming from a C# or functional programming background to pick up, whereas Julia's dynamic nature and emphasis on numerical computing may present a steeper learning curve for those not familiar with scientific computing concepts.

In Summary, Understanding the differences in purpose, syntax, tooling, performance, community, and learning curve can help developers make an informed decision between using F# and Julia for their projects.

Advice on F# and Julia
Needs advice
on
C#C#F#F#
and
KotlinKotlin

Hi there. I want to expand my coding toolset. So I want to learn a second backend language besides Kotlin. Kotlin is fantastic. I love it in every aspect, and I think I can never return to Java. And also why should I? It is 100% interoperable with java and can co-exist in every project.

So my question here is. Which language do you think will bring me more joy? I think F#; it is more like Kotlin. Then C# (it's more or like 100% java). But, let's say I learn F#. Is it 100% interoperable like Kotlin? can they live side by side? Can I, then, apply to .NET jr jobs after a while, for example, or is C# the holy cow? I would like to learn .Net.

If it is the worst and only C# is acceptable, then which language should I learn? Dart? Go?

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Replies (3)
Recommends
on
C#C#KotlinKotlin

Exceptional decision to go with Kotlin. For the other story, go full with C#. "is C# the holy cow? Yes it is.". Specially now when netCore is crossplatform and you can build asp.net core applications on Windows, Linux and macOS via Visual Studio Code which is also multiplatform. Nothing will beat C# in the near future. Also, at the end of 2021 Microsoft will release Net 6.0 which will include MAUI.

"For those new to .NET MAUI (standing for .NET Multi-platform App UI), Microsoft says it's "the evolution of Xamarin.Forms extended from mobile to desktop scenarios with UI controls rebuilt from the ground up for performance and extensibility."

So, C# all the way sire!

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Recommends
on
C#C#

animefanx1,

First let's get your questions sorted: Which language do you think will bring me more joy?

This you will have to decide for yourself, I am a long time C# developer and have seen it grow into a very compelling platform. The language and I'd compare it more to Kotlin than Java (by a long margin). More on .NET in a bit.

say I learn F#. Is it 100% interoperable like Kotlin?

You can have 100% interop with a caveat, your F# libraries have to implement certain guidance in order to be referenced from C#. Some (dare I say most) of the differences between F# and C# are predicated on language constructs that are not available in C#. For instance F# functions that return Unit.

can they live side by side?

Yes.

Can I, then, apply to .NET jr jobs after a while, for example, or is C# the holy cow?

I don't know if I take your meaning, but let me say this: Learning either C# or F# will likely force you to understand concepts such as garbage collection, primitive types, etc. which apply to all .NET languages, thus a lot of the effort you put into .NET is bound to pay off regardless of your choice.

If it is the worst and only C# is acceptable, then which language should I learn? Dart? Go? You can't go wrong with any of these and I venture to say whether you select C#, F#, Dart or Go as your next adventure, your willingness to learn will take you to try other languages, some which mey not even exist yet!

PS1: .NET is an end to end environment now. With the introduction of Blazor and Razor pages one does not need JavaScript or other browser scripting languages, it even interops with JavaScript. PS2. Microsoft is working on unifying .NET. Soon there will be only one version: .NET 5! Caveat: Some features such as WinForms will still be specific to the windows environment but all of those are likely things you don't need in Mac or Linux

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Recommends
on
GolangGolang

I think you can learn go instead C#. C# is cool, but Golang also cool. It can run on any OS without specific software. C# can run on linux too but it's only the .NET Core as I know. But golang is flexible. So try it and decide what do you think about Golang

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Decisions about F# and Julia
Alexander Nozik
Senior researcher at MIPT · | 3 upvotes · 172.2K views
Migrated
from
JuliaJulia
to
KotlinKotlin

After writing a project in Julia we decided to stick with Kotlin. Julia is a nice language and has superb REPL support, but poor tooling and the lack of reproducibility of the program runs makes it too expensive to work with. Kotlin on the other hand now has nice Jupyter support, which mostly covers REPL requirements.

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Pros of F#
Pros of Julia
  • 53
    Pattern-matching
  • 42
    Makes programming fun again
  • 38
    Type providers
  • 32
    Delightful
  • 30
    Frictionless
  • 26
    Static type inference
  • 21
    Composable
  • 19
    Ml syntax
  • 17
    REPL
  • 17
    Succinct
  • 10
    DDD
  • 9
    Making invalid states impossible
  • 7
    Great community
  • 7
    WebSharper
  • 7
    Language support for units of measure
  • 6
    Functional Programming
  • 6
    Powerful
  • 5
    Beautiful Code
  • 5
    Compact
  • 5
    Multiplatform
  • 5
    Functional paradigm
  • 5
    Computation Expressions
  • 5
    Open source
  • 5
    Less bugs
  • 5
    Productive
  • 4
    Allow use JS and .NET libraries
  • 4
    Object oriented features
  • 4
    Fun to write
  • 24
    Fast Performance and Easy Experimentation
  • 21
    Designed for parallelism and distributed computation
  • 18
    Free and Open Source
  • 17
    Dynamic Type System
  • 16
    Multiple Dispatch
  • 16
    Calling C functions directly
  • 16
    Lisp-like Macros
  • 10
    Powerful Shell-like Capabilities
  • 9
    Jupyter notebook integration
  • 8
    REPL
  • 4
    String handling
  • 4
    Emojis as variable names
  • 3
    Interoperability

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Cons of F#
Cons of Julia
  • 3
    Microsoft tend to ignore F# preferring to hype C#
  • 2
    Interop between C# can sometimes be difficult
  • 1
    Hype
  • 1
    Type Providers can be unstable in larger solutions
  • 5
    Immature library management system
  • 4
    Slow program start
  • 3
    JIT compiler is very slow
  • 3
    Poor backwards compatibility
  • 2
    Bad tooling
  • 2
    No static compilation

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What is F#?

F# is a mature, open source, cross-platform, functional-first programming language. It empowers users and organizations to tackle complex computing problems with simple, maintainable and robust code.

What is Julia?

Julia is a high-level, high-performance dynamic programming language for technical computing, with syntax that is familiar to users of other technical computing environments. It provides a sophisticated compiler, distributed parallel execution, numerical accuracy, and an extensive mathematical function library.

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What companies use F#?
What companies use Julia?
See which teams inside your own company are using F# or Julia.
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What tools integrate with F#?
What tools integrate with Julia?

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What are some alternatives to F# and Julia?
Haskell
It is a general purpose language that can be used in any domain and use case, it is ideally suited for proprietary business logic and data analysis, fast prototyping and enhancing existing software environments with correct code, performance and scalability.
OCaml
It is an industrial strength programming language supporting functional, imperative and object-oriented styles. It is the technology of choice in companies where a single mistake can cost millions and speed matters,
Scala
Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.
Python
Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.
Clojure
Clojure is designed to be a general-purpose language, combining the approachability and interactive development of a scripting language with an efficient and robust infrastructure for multithreaded programming. Clojure is a compiled language - it compiles directly to JVM bytecode, yet remains completely dynamic. Clojure is a dialect of Lisp, and shares with Lisp the code-as-data philosophy and a powerful macro system.
See all alternatives