Pike and Some Other Languages

C++ and C

Pike looks a lot like C++ on the surface, but is easier and safer to use. Since it is interpreted, it may be slower for some applications. Pike is more flexible than C++, and allows for a somewhat less rigid programming style than what is necessary in C++. Another difference is that there are many different C and C++ compilers, while there is only one implementation of Pike.

C#

Pike is very similar to C#. In fact, one could easily think that some engineers at Microsoft and the other companies behind C# were Pike users. The most noticable difference between the two is probably that Pike has better standard types than C# and doesn’t require the use of libraries for type conversions et c. If you are using C#, you will find Pike very easy to use.

Java

Pike looks a bit like Java on the surface. Like Java, Pike is translated to an intermediate format, which is then executed by an interpreter. Java programs are usually distributed to the user in this intermediate format, but with Pike we use the source code. This is feasible since compilation time, i e the time it takes to translate the program to the intermediate format, is near zero in Pike.

Perl

Perl started on Unix systems as a system administration tool. Both Pike and Perl are good at handling strings, and both can be used to add functionality to web servers. Perl is much more widely used than Pike. Some programmers feel that the syntax of Perl is obscure.

Python

Programs written in Python look very different from Pike programs, but Python and Pike are similar when it comes to ideas and use. Python is more widely used and has more libraries available. Pike on the other hand is faster, has a more advanced type system, and has better support for object-oriented programming. Pike’s more C++-like syntax makes it easier to get started with for programmers who know C++, C or Java.