Can someone with Odin experience tell me about a new feature? I'm looking for a unique hook, like Zig did with comptime.
For example, I'd say "If you are a python programmer, you should take a look at Nim. Same syntax, automatic memory management, fast execution, and meta programming".
For crystal, it would be the same set, except for the syntax (which resembles Ruby)
Anyhoo, having read some more about Odin, I'll attempt an answer to my own question. These are the features -- the hooks -- that stood out from the competition for me
1. Array programming on fixed sized arrays. Very nice. 2. quaternion and matrix in-built types. This alone is worth the price 3. "where" clauses including numeric constraints on types (in parametric polymorphism) 4. relatively pain-free linking to C code of admission. 5. Small arrays for dynamically sized stack allocated arrays 6. Multiple return values that can be named.
Consider me hooked! Thank you for all the hard work and sharing it generously with the world.
That being said, I find the error handling via multiple return values + or_return pretty nifty, and the vendored libraries give it a very “batteries-included” feel.
For example, you can render hardware accelerated graphics and de/serialize JSON without downloading any packages.