Eiffel
Shares rank 105 of 163 programming languages by recommenders
People recommend it as the language that introduced design by contract, which uses preconditions and postconditions to check code. The most common caveat is that early tool support was poor.
People recommend it as the language that introduced design by contract, which uses preconditions and postconditions to check code. The most common caveat is that early tool support was poor.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Design by contract pioneer
“It's pre-conditions and post-conditions prove the properties of the code that you actually are executing.”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Functional Data Structures and Algorithms: a Proof Assistant Approach” “A shoutout to Eiffel, the first "modern" (circa 1985) language to incorporate Design by Contract.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “C++26 is done ISO C++ standards meeting, Trip Report” “it supports design by contract, an idea that was created and implemented first in Eiffel”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Pharo 14” - Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “C++26 is done ISO C++ standards meeting, Trip Report”
- Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “C++26 Contracts: Introduction to Preconditions and Postconditions”
Preferred over Rust and Smalltalk
“Smalltalk, Eiffel, and Simula, were better languages”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “I spent 6 years building my Kanban as I hated how managers run the boards” “I would rather use Eiffel than use Rust like that.”
Comment from 17 May 2026 in “Spectre Programming Language”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Early tool support was poor
“the software tool support initially was appalling”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “A few good ideas in programming languages”
Other programming languages people recommend
The four most recommended other programming languages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 163 programming languages, rankedWhat people said
12 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Eiffel was also the very first OOP language to introduce non nullable references”
“it supports design by contract, an idea that was created and implemented first in Eiffel”
“If someone wants contracts in C++, why not just use Eiffel?”
“the software tool support initially was appalling”
“I would rather use Eiffel than use Rust like that.”
“Smalltalk, Eiffel, and Simula, were better languages”
“I remember that Eiffel was very slow to compile”
“Both sites are worth a look.”
“A shoutout to Eiffel, the first "modern" (circa 1985) language to incorporate Design by Contract.”
“the first "modern" (circa 1985) language to incorporate Design by Contract”
“It's pre-conditions and post-conditions prove the properties of the code that you actually are executing.”
“It's such a powerful tool. And a natural way to model the world.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.