Elixir vs Clojure | Popularity, Salary, Features, and Applications.
If you want to work on web applications, real-time applications, fault-tolerant applications, embedded systems, and automation tools, you should learn Elixir over Clojure.
Elixir is a dynamic, high-level, functional language for building scalable and maintainable applications.
Elixir runs on the Erlang Virtual Machine, known for creating low-latency, distributed, and fault-tolerant systems.
On the other hand, if you want to work on server-side applications, cloud applications, web applications, IoT apps, and Data Science projects, you should learn Clojure over Elixir.
Clojure is a robust, dynamic, general-purpose, and functional dialect of the Lisp programming language on the Java platform.
It provides excellent language interoperability with Java.
Comparing programming languages and choosing which one to learn or use for your next project can be tricky.
There are many factors to consider in order to choose the right programming language for the job you want to do.
Popularity, opportunities, type of projects, salaries, resources, learning curve, etc. are some of the factors that many people consider when comparing programming languages and choosing which one to learn or use.
Here are some of the comparisons and considerations you should make when choosing to learn a new programming language.
ELIXIR VS CLOJURE POPULARITY
Comparing the popularity of programming languages is not an easy task because each programming language is different.
Although the usage of many programming languages may intersect, different fields and projects may require the use of different programming languages.
Plus, other programming languages have been around for a longer time than others, giving them more time to be tried and tested, so, bear that in mind.
If you want to learn a programming language solely for its popularity among developers, you should learn Elixir over Clojure.
Generally, Elixir is more popular than Clojure. According to a Stack Overflow survey of 2023, Elixir is the 29th most commonly used programming language, it is used by 2.32% of developers.
On the other hand, Clojure is the 35th most commonly used programming language, it is used by 1.28% of developers according to the same survey.
Elixir is also admired by many developers than Clojure. Actually, Elixir is the second most admired programming language after Rust.
As of 2023, Elixir is admired by 73.12% of developers while Clojure is admired by 68.51% of developers
Ultimately, if your choice of which programming language to learn depends on popularity, you should learn Elixir over Clojure.
ELIXIR VS CLOJURE SALARY
Another popular criterion that many people use to compare programming languages and as an incentive to learn a new programming language is salary.
Salaries for developers differ from one company to the other and from one country to the other.
Experience is another factor that comes into play as far as salaries are concerned.
The more experience you have with a certain technology or programming language, the more likely you are to get a higher salary.
Salaries for Elixir and Clojure developers are generally the same. Elixir developers earn slightly higher salaries than Clojure developers.
Glassdoor reported that in the United States, Elixir Developers with 1 – 3 years of experience get a total pay of $102,205 per year.
On the other hand, Clojure developers with the same experience get a total of $95,269 per year, about $6,900 less than Elixir developers
According to a 2023 Stack Overflow survey of top-paying programming languages, Elixir developers get a median salary of $96,381 per year and Clojure developers get the same $96,381 per year.
So, if the salary is your major incentive for learning a programming language, you should learn Elixir over Clojure.
You are slightly more likely to get a higher salary as an Elixir developer than as a Clojure developer.
Here are 10 Programming Languages that Pay more than $90,000
ELIXIR VS CLOJURE WHICH ONE IS EASY
Elixir and Clojure are both relatively easy languages to learn, but Elixir is generally considered to be easier to learn than Clojure.
Elixir has a more concise syntax than Clojure, and it uses a lot of syntax that is similar to Ruby and Erlang. Elixir also has a more active community and a wider range of resources available for learning.
Clojure’s syntax is based on Lisp, which might seem unusual if you’re coming from languages with more traditional syntax.
However, once you grasp the Lisp-style syntax and its inherent simplicity, it can become quite elegant to work with.
If you are coming from a Lisp or Java background, you will find Clojure easier to work with than Elixir.
The good news is that there are plenty of helpful resources for both Clojure and Elixir to help you learn the languages.
The Clojure and Elixir communities are active and helpful, in case you get stuck with something.
ELIXIR VS CLOJURE PERFORMANCE
Elixir is generally considered to be more performant than Clojure.
Elixir is built on the Erlang virtual machine (BEAM), which is known for its exceptional performance in concurrent and distributed systems.
Elixir also uses a number of features that can improve performance, such as immutable data structures and the actor model.
The BEAM VM’s lightweight processes and actor-based concurrency model enable it to handle a massive number of concurrent tasks efficiently.
This makes Elixir particularly well-suited for building highly scalable and fault-tolerant applications, such as real-time systems, messaging platforms, and networking applications.
Clojure runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which means it benefits from the performance optimizations and mature ecosystem of the JVM.
The JVM’s Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation, advanced garbage collection, and platform interoperability can lead to excellent performance for a wide range of applications.
ELIXIR VS CLOJURE FEATURES AND APPLICATIONS
ELIXIR
Elixir runs on the Erlang VM, known for creating low-latency, distributed, and fault-tolerant systems. It is also designed to handle large data volumes.
These capabilities and Elixir tooling help developers to be productive in several domains, such as telecommunications, web development, embedded software, data pipelines, and multimedia processing, across a wide range of industries.
To help developers build fault-tolerant systems, Elixir provides supervisors which describe how to restart parts of your system when things go wrong.
Elixir is also compatible with Erlang, this gives developers complete access to the Erlang ecosystem. An Elixir programmer can invoke any Erlang function with no runtime cost.
This helps developers to build robust applications.
Elixir is used by many companies such as Mozilla, Pinterest, Xplane, Ramp, Brex, Discord, Heroku, FarmBot, Duffel, The Outline, Slab, Pepsico, Change.org, Bleacher Report, Inverse, Moz, Divvy, PagerDuty, and many others.
Also read Should web developers know Elixir
CLOJURE
Clojure combines the approachability and interactive development of a scripting language with an efficient and robust infrastructure for multithreaded programming.
Clojure provides tools for managing concurrent and parallel execution, making it easier to write programs that take advantage of modern multicore processors.
Clojure runs on the JVM, which means it can leverage Java libraries and frameworks seamlessly. This makes it easy to reuse existing Java code and integrate with the Java ecosystem.
Clojure is used by many companies such as Walmart, Nubank, Puppet, Chartbeat, MailOnline, BeanStalk, Atlassion, Base2, Kidblog, Greenius, Lendup, Zimpler, Gojek, Pisano, Freshcode, French Digital Administration, and many others.
SHOULD I LEARN ELIXIR OR CLOJURE
Once you have compared the languages and evaluated all the factors, you can choose which programming language to learn or use depending on the factors that are on your side and what you want to build.
If you want to work on web applications, real-time applications, fault-tolerant applications, embedded systems, automation tools, and potentially fetch a higher salary, you should learn Elixir over Clojure.
If you want to work on server-side applications, cloud applications, web applications, IoT apps, and Data Science projects, you should learn Clojure over Elixir.