When comparing Amber vs Opa, the Slant community recommends Amber for most people. In the question“What are the best languages that compile to JavaScript? ” Amber is ranked 11th while Opa is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Amber is:
Amber includes an integrated development environment with a class browser, workspace, transcript, object inspector and debugger.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Includes an IDE
Amber includes an integrated development environment with a class browser, workspace, transcript, object inspector and debugger.
Pro Smalltalk is a simple, elegant, and powerful language
Pro One-to-one JS equivalent
Amber is written in itself, including the parser and compiler, and compiles into efficient JavaScript, mapping one-to-one with the JS equivalent.
Pro Type Inferred
Opa uses type inference to decide what code runs on the client or the server, so you can organize code how you like, but still be sure that it runs where it needs to.
Pro Familiar Javascript Syntax
Opa's syntax is very similar to JavaScript, making it an easy choice for developers who are used to developing in JavaScript.
Pro Client and Server in the same language
Cons
Con Very few learning resources
There are very little learning resources for Amber outside the official documentation. Which may not be enough for beginners, especially people that don't have much experience in programming.
Con Not popular
Opa is not as popular as other languages which compile to JavaScript. Making it harder to find learning resources or even answers if you get stuck somewhere.