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0 pointsjazoom7y ago0 comments

I'm looking for a new language to write server code in. I have been using Node for years but I want something that compiles to machine code and is statically typed.

I've been looking at Go and I like that it is simple, has opinionated, official tooling, compiles very quickly for multiple platforms, is popular enough to have a decent library ecosystem, and I really like the idea of goroutines.

What language would you suggest would be better? Nim sounds cool but it's too new. It's not stable and has a small ecosystem.

0 comments

mbo7y ago

> [Nim] is too new

It's actually a year older than Go (2008 rather than 2009).

If you don't want to use Nim because it's not stable enough or has too small an ecosystem (I disagree), you could try out Scala Native or Kotlin Native. A large portion of their ecosystem successfully compile to native code (although you may have issues with Scala Native compile times).

You can also check out OCaml.

jazoomOP7y ago

I guess I mean "new" as in still not stable (pre-1.0 and still sees breaking changes). The fact it's been around so long and still hasn't matured is not reassuring at all.

I have checked out OCaml but it's not mainstream enough to have libraries for... anything really. Here's the first thing I checked just now: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/communi...

The OCaml client was abandoned 5 years ago. Nim doesn't even appear on the page!

This page says Kotlin Native is still in preview: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/native-overview.html

Also, I am not seeing a reason why Go is not a good choice.

mbo7y ago

> Also, I am not seeing a reason why Go is not a good choice.

I think you may have unnecessarily restricted yourself by wanting a language that produces native binaries and is GC'd. There simply _aren't_ that many mature and mainstream languages that compile to native binaries with a GC. I'd personally much prefer a more expressive language with a less robust ecosystem (and a virtual machine), but if an Elastic lib is a hard requirement for you, then I can't argue with your choice of Go.

Or use Haskell. Native binaries, opinionated, decent library ecosystem ;).

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ernst_klim7y ago

>to have libraries for... anything really

It has thousands of libraries, check opam out. If something is absent, why won't you write your own library anyway? Elasticsearch is really not that complex, here is the example:

https://github.com/cyborgize/es-cli

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dom967y ago

You should give Nim a go. The ecosystem is growing fast :)

jazoomOP7y ago

That's a good thing, but it means I might use Nim in 3-5 years, not right now. As a single dude without a team I need to spend time on getting things done, not building custom clients to databases etc.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

mbo7y ago

> [Nim] is too new

It's actually a year older than Go (2008 rather than 2009).

You can also check out OCaml.

jazoomOP7y ago

I guess I mean "new" as in still not stable (pre-1.0 and still sees breaking changes). The fact it's been around so long and still hasn't matured is not reassuring at all.

The OCaml client was abandoned 5 years ago. Nim doesn't even appear on the page!

This page says Kotlin Native is still in preview: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/native-overview.html

Also, I am not seeing a reason why Go is not a good choice.

mbo7y ago

> Also, I am not seeing a reason why Go is not a good choice.

Or use Haskell. Native binaries, opinionated, decent library ecosystem ;).

1 more reply

ernst_klim7y ago

>to have libraries for... anything really

It has thousands of libraries, check opam out. If something is absent, why won't you write your own library anyway? Elasticsearch is really not that complex, here is the example:

https://github.com/cyborgize/es-cli

1 more reply

dom967y ago

You should give Nim a go. The ecosystem is growing fast :)

jazoomOP7y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse