Julia vs Go what to learn in 2023
Julia is a high-level, dynamic programming language that was designed for high performance. It has many great features that make it well-suited for numerical analysis and computational science.
Julia programs compile to efficient native code for multiple platforms via LLVM.
If you are interested in working on Data Visualization & Plotting, Data Science, Machine Learning, Parallel & Heterogeneous Computing, and Scientific Computing, you should learn Julia over Go.
On the other hand, Go is a statically typed, compiled programming language that makes it easy to build secure, scalable systems.
if you are interested in building command line interfaces, cloud & network services, web applications, DevOps, and Site Reliability, you should learn Go.
Comparing programming languages and choosing which one to learn 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, types 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.
Here are some of the comparisons and considerations you should make when choosing to learn a new programming language.
JULIA VS GO POPULARITY
Comparing the popularity of programming languages is not an easy task because each programming language is different and they all seek to solve different problems.
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 or framework solely for its popularity among developers, you should learn Go over Julia.
Generally, Go is more popular than Julia. According to a Stack Overflow survey of 2022, Go is the 13th most commonly used programming language, it is used by 11.83% of professional developers.
On the other hand, Julia is the 35th most commonly used programming language, it is used by 1.04% of professional developers according to the same survey.
It is worth noting that Julia is a newer language compared to Go, it is actually rapidly growing in popularity. There are more developers who love Julia than those who love Go.
As of 2022, Julia is loved by 72.51% of developers versus 27.49% of developers who dreaded it. Compare that to 64.58% of developers who love Go versus 35.42% of developers who dreaded it.
Ultimately, if your choice of which programming language to learn depends on popularity, you should learn Go.
Plus, there are more opportunities for Go Developers than for Julia developers because Go has been around for a very long time and has been used on many systems than Julia.
However, because Go is more popular and commonly used by many companies than Julia, there is going to be more competition for Go opportunities than for Julia opportunities.
In this regard, a Julia developer may get a job easily because of less competition.
JULIA VS GO SALARIES
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 of getting a higher salary.
Generally, Go developers get higher salaries than Julia developers. According to a Stack Overflow survey of top-paying programming languages, Go developers get an average salary of $89,204 per year.
On the other hand, Julia developers get an average salary of $77,966 per year, about $11,000 less than Go developers.
So, if the salary is your major incentive for learning a language or framework, you should learn Go over Julia, because you are more likely to get a higher salary as a Go developer than as a Julia developer.
Also read Best Way to learn Julia
JULIA VS GO WHICH ONE IS EASIER
Some programming languages can be learned more easily than others. Both Go and Julia are beginner-friendly languages and you will not have many difficulties learning either.
Generally, Go is a little bit easier than Julia. Julia has some advanced and new programming concepts like macros, which can be a little bit difficult, especially for beginners.
But if you are coming from a numerical and statistical background, you may find Julia easy and attractive.
On the other hand, if you are familiar with systems programming, networks, and database interaction, you will find Go very easy and straightforward.
The good news is that there are plenty of helpful resources for both Go and Julia to help you learn the languages. The Go and Julia communities are very active and helpful, in case you get stuck with something.
JULIA VS GO PERFORMANCE
When it comes to performance comparison, Julia is a go-to language over Go, if you plan on working on applications where top-notch performance is critical, you should learn Julia.
Julia is a very fast and high-performance language, it is one of the few high-level programming languages in which petaFLOPS computations have been achieved, others being C, C++, and Fortran.
Julia has many advanced features and libraries that make it a popular choice for Data Science, Machine Learning, Scientific Computing, Parallel Computing, and Data Visualization & Plotting.
Julia provides asynchronous I/O, metaprogramming, debugging, logging, profiling, a package manager, and more. This makes it possible to build entire applications and Microservices in Julia.
It has a built-in package manager called Pkg that handles operations such as installing, updating, and removing packages.
Julia also uses multiple dispatch as a paradigm, making it easy to express many object-oriented and functional programming patterns.
The beauty of Julia is that you call C programming language functions directly without wrappers or special APIs.
It also has foreign function interfaces that make it work well with other programming languages such as Python, R, C++, Java, and many others.
Python and R packages such as PyJulia and JuliaCall can be used to call Julia packages in a Python or R codebase.
Julia is used by many companies such as Aviva, NASA, Brazilian INPE, Moderna, BlackRock, Climate Modelling Alliance, Google, Microsoft, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and many others.
Go has great unique features that make it suitable for building command line interfaces, cloud & network services, DevOps & Site Reliability, etc.
Although its performance cannot be compared to that of Julia, Go stills remains a popular choice for applications that require good performance.
It has features such as built-in concurrency, memory safety, garbage collection, structural typing, and a robust standard library that makes development quick and straightforward.
Go powers some of the complex applications made by companies like Twitter, Uber, Cloudflare, American Express Capital One, Paypal, Bitly, Meta, Wild Life, Allegro, Armut, Curve, Cockroach Labs, Dropbox, Monzo, Netflix, Trivago, Microsoft, Grail, Mercado Libre, Salesforce, Twitch, Stream, SIXT, Google, Riot Games, Target, and many others.
Also read Can Go be used for Game Development
SHOULD I LEARN JULIA OR GO
Once you have compared the languages and evaluated all the factors, you can choose which programming language to learn depending on the factors that are on your side and what you want to build.
If you are interested in working on Data Visualization & Plotting, Data Science, Machine Learning, Parallel & Heterogeneous Computing, and Scientific Computing, you should learn Julia over Go.
If you are interested in building command line interfaces, cloud & network services, web applications, DevOps, and Site Reliability, you should learn Go over Julia.
