It is becoming more and more obvious that there are just two runtimes left to execute code, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). So, I decided to see how they stack up. Looks like both environments have something for everyone.
Here is a list of programming languages available on these runtimes.
- Can run on CLI using IKVM.NET
- Can run on JVM using Mainsoft solution
- Not yet usable
- Can run on CLR, but is behind the JVM implementation
The main reason for the research was to identify a new language I should pick-up. I looked at Python and Ruby, but both have some sore thumbs that I just can’t stand. I really liked Boo and Groovy; they are similar to C#/Java in syntax and incorporate the good things from Python. Although I like Boo’s syntax and approach more than Groovy, Groovy has a more mature implementation and ecosystem. I will try to use Groovy for some hobby project and get a feel to things.