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Comment by FraaJad | Hacker News Reader

If you like higher level languages like C#, you are not going to like Zig, except the surface similarity in syntax.

not liking syntax is not enough reason not to use a language. It takes a few days to get over the unfamiliarity in syntax. concepts are much harder to learn.

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If I'm not getting paid to use it, why use a language I don't like.

Syntax is a big deal.

C# looks like Java because Microsoft wanted to court Java devs.

I will admit that I prefer higher level languages since I don't care much for memory management. I just want to build cool things.

What syntax are you looking for? If you want C syntax, D will be the closest (most valid C code is also valid D code). If you want Ruby syntax, there's Crystal. Zig feels more verbose to me. For example, there are no multiline comments and no operator overloading, which kind of got to me when I tried Zig. This is, of course, purely subjective. Some people like the Zig syntax.

D Lang did come up in my research. But it feels like it never took off.

True, but you mentioned Nim earlier, and this is a discussion of Zig, which hasn't even reached a stable release. D is an old, stable language that's still under heavy development. It's used by some companies and is able to support an in-person annual conference. I have no concerns about the code I write today working ten years from now.

There are more similarities in the lower level than you think. Once you start writing structs that use generics to specialize their allocator (as in, for really hands-on memory management), it starts looking similar, much like when you write portable SIMD code, which I should commend Zig for having the API for that is similar to .NET one.

What do you mean not enough reason? It's not your decision.

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