BoxLang vs. Java vs. RunMat vs. Visual Basic Comparison Chart

BoxLang is a modern, dynamically and loosely typed scripting language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that supports Object-Oriented (OO) and Functional Programming (FP) constructs. It can be deployed on multiple platforms and all operating systems, web servers, Java application servers, AWS Lambda, WebAssembly, and more. BoxLang combines many features from different programming languages to provide developers with a modern, fluent, and expressive syntax. BoxLang has been designed to be a highly modular and dynamic language that takes advantage of all the modern features of the JVM. It is dynamically typed, which means there's no need to declare types. It can perform type inference, auto-casting, and promotions between different types. The language adjusts to its deployed runtime and can add, remove, or modify methods and properties at runtime.

RunMat (by Dystr) is a fast, free, open-source alternative for running MATLAB code. Users can run their existing MATLAB code with complete language grammar and core semantics. No license fees, no lock-in. RunMat is built with a modern compiler, which enables blazing-fast calculations. It boots in 5 milliseconds, GPU optimization is enabled by default, and it's a single, compact, cross-platform binary. Typical engineering use cases - Controls/signal processing & numerics: accelerate MATLAB-style loops plus heavy linear algebra; enjoy faster iteration due to instant startup and tiered JIT. - Batch/CI & serverless jobs: snapshots + compact binaries make it easy to run .m workloads in containers or ephemeral runners at scale. - Plot-heavy workflows: interactive GPU plots for exploratory analysis and reportable exports for stakeholders. - Education: remove license friction and start labs instantly; Jupyter kernel supports reproducible worksheets.