Add comparison with other calculators/languages

sharkdp · Sep 29, 2024 · 9c94957 · 9c94957
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diff --git a/book/src/SUMMARY.md b/book/src/SUMMARY.md
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
     - [XKCD 687](./example-xkcd_687.md)
     - [XKCD 2585](./example-xkcd_2585.md)
     - [XKCD 2812](./example-xkcd_2812.md)
-- [IDE / editor integration](./editor-integration.md)
 
 # Numbat language reference
 
@@ -69,6 +68,11 @@
 
 - [Type system](./type-system.md)
 
+# Other topics
+
+- [IDE / editor integration](./editor-integration.md)
+- [Comparison with other tools](./comparison.md)
+
 # Support
 
 - [Contact us](./contact-us.md)
diff --git a/book/src/comparison.md b/book/src/comparison.md
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Comparison with other tools
+
+The following table provides a comparison of Numbat with other scientific calculators and programming languages. This comparison
+is certainly *not* objective, as we only list criteria that we consider important. If you think that a tool or language is missing
+or misrepresented, please [let us know](https://github.com/sharkdp/numbat/issues).
+
+|                                        | Numbat          | [Qalculate](https://qalculate.github.io/) | [Kalker](https://github.com/PaddiM8/kalker) | [GNU Units](https://www.gnu.org/software/units/) | [Frink](https://frinklang.org/) | [Wolfram Alpha](https://www.wolframalpha.com/) |
+|----------------------------------------|-----------------|-----------|--------|-----------|-------|---------------|
+| FOSS License                           | MIT, Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0   | MIT    | GPL-3.0   | ❌     | ❌             |
+| **Interfaces**                         |                 |           |        |           |       |               |
+| Command-line                           | ✓               | ✓         | ✓    | ✓         | ✓     | ✓             |
+| Web version                            | ✓               | ❌        | ✓     | ❌         | ❌     | ✓             |
+| Graphical                              | ❌              | ✓         | ❌    | ❌         | (✓)   | ✓             |
+| **Units**                              |                 |           |        |           |       |               |
+| Comprehensive list of units            | ✓               | ✓         | ❌    | ✓         | ✓     | ✓             |
+| Custom units                           | ✓               | ✓         | ❌    | ✓         | ✓     | ❌             |
+| Physical dimensions                    | ✓               | ❌        | ❌    | ❌         | ❌     | ❌             |
+| Currency conversions                   | ✓               | ✓         | ❌    | ❌         | ✓     | ✓             |
+| Date and time calculations             | ✓               | ✓         | ❌    | ❌         | ✓     | ✓             |
+| **Language features**                  |                 |           |        |           |       |               |
+| Custom functions                       | ✓               | ✓        | ✓     | ❌         | ✓     | ❌             |
+| Real programming language              | ✓               | ❌        | ❌     | ❌         | ✓     | ?             |
+| Strongly typed                         | ✓               | ❌        | ❌     | ❌         | ❌     | ❌             |
+| **Calculator features**                |                 |           |        |           |       |               |
+| Symbolic calculations                  | ❌               | (✓)        | ❌    | ❌         | (✓)     | ✓             |
+| Hex/Oct/Bin mode                       | ✓               | ✓         | ✓     | ✓         | ✓     | ✓             |
+| Complex numbers                        | ❌ ([#180](https://github.com/sharkdp/numbat/issues/180))  | ✓        | ✓     | ❌         | ✓     | ✓             |
+| Vectors, Matrices                      | ❌               | ✓        | ✓      | ❌         | ✓     | ✓             |
+
+## Detailed comparison
+
+- [Qalculate](https://qalculate.github.io/) is a fantastic calculator with a strong support for units and conversions.
+  If you don't need the full power of a programming language, Qalculate is probably more feature-complete than Numbat.
+- [Frink](https://frinklang.org/) is a special-purpose programming language with a focus on scientific calculations
+  and units of measurement. The language is probably more powerful than Numbat, but lacks a static type system. It's also
+  a imperative/OOP language, while Numbat is a functional/declarative language. Frink is not open-source.
+- [GNU Units](https://www.gnu.org/software/units/) is probably the most comprehensive tool in terms of pre-defined units.
+  Numbat makes it very easy to define [custom units](./unit-definitions.md). If you think that a unit should be part
+  of the standard library, please [let us know](https://github.com/sharkdp/numbat/issues).
+- [Wolfram Alpha](https://www.wolframalpha.com/) is a very powerful tool, but it's focused on single-line queries instead
+  of longer computations. The query language lacks a strict syntax (which some might consider a feature). The tool is not
+  open source and sometimes has limitations with respect to the number/size of queries you can make.
+
+## Other interesting tools / languages
+
+- [F#](https://fsharp.org/) is the only programming language that we know of that comes close in terms of having an
+  expressive type system that is based on units of measure. In fact, Numbats type system is heavily inspired by F#,
+  except that it uses physical dimensions instead of physical units on the type level. Both languages have feature
+  full [type inference](./function-definitions.md#type-inference). F# is not listed above, as it's not really suitable
+  as a scientific calculator.