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Comment by RagnarD | Hacker News Reader

"This associated with the ability to cross-compile code to be run in another architecture, different than the machine where it is was originally compiled, is already something quite different and unique."

Perhaps I'm missing something but this is utterly routine. It even has the name used here: Cross-compiling.

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If you install Zig, you can now generate executables for virtually any target with just a CLI argument specifying the target, regardless of what machine you installed it on. Nothing else does that--cross compilation generally requires compiling the compiler to target a different architecture.

Doesn't Golang support this as well, out of the box?

Apparently; I wasn't aware. But unlike Zig this doesn't work with FFI ... everything has to be Go code ... cross compilation works by compiling the library code for the target and caching it ... but if you need anything outside of that you're out of luck ... or maybe not ... I ran across this tidbit:

"When a Go project utilizes CGo to interact with C code, standard Go cross-compilation might require additional steps. This is because Go can cross-compile Go code but not C code directly, necessitating the availability of target system libraries on the development machine. Tools like Zig can be used as a C compiler (zcc) to facilitate cross-compilation for CGo-dependent projects by providing the necessary cross-compilation capabilities for the C code."

> this is utterly routine. It even has the name used here: Cross-compiling.

Zig makes cross-compilation trivial and part of the language philosophy.

Other languages either rely on external toolchains (C/C++, Rust with C deps) or are limited in target flexibility (Go).

For projects targeting multiple OS/architectures, Zig is currently the most straightforward option.

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