# l runtime for k and q

6 Hacker News commenters recommended l runtime for k and q and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** An independent q interpreter offered as an alternative to commercially licensed kdb+, with benchmarks people find promising. Critics mostly object that it is closed source and vibe-coded.

## Why people recommend it

- Alternative to licensed kdb+ (2 comments): "L is an independent implementation of a q interpreter. To those who reluctantly commercially license kdb+ - this will be a welcome alternative." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48823483)) "this will be a welcome alternative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48823468))
- Strong performance and benchmark gains (3 comments): "That was a massive unlock - and I could not keep most of the CPU doing actual compute!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48828002)) "as is compute on compressed vectors (very helpful performance unlock)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48823513)) "cool to have a new variant that seems to bench well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822353))
- Innovative and impressive port to q (2 comments): "First, this is an incredible achievement." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48832969)) "Very innovative to bring it to q." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48823613))

## What people warn about

- Closed source and vibe-coded (2 comments): "the site's clearly vibecoded and isn't opensource" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822690)) "Closed source (and vibe-coded) software, especially for a language runtime, is a non-starter" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48824012))
- Grandiose claims and AI-styled UI (2 comments): "lots of unexplained grandiose thinking like "k and q made the vector the unit of thought."" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822221)) "The UI screams gpt 5.5 high lol." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48823283))
- Weak benchmark evidence (2 comments): "the only point of comparison against a competitive k/q runtime is an MBP run" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48832730)) "the author who can't write knows how to benchmark software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822590))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [J programming language](https://hackerapproved.com/p/j-programming-language.md): 23 recommend
- [Uiua](https://hackerapproved.com/p/uiua.md): 20 recommend
- [BQN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bqn.md): 11 recommend
- [K programming language](https://hackerapproved.com/p/k-programming-language.md): 11 recommend
- [kdb+ q](https://hackerapproved.com/p/q.md): 7 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "l runtime for k and q", https://hackerapproved.com/p/l/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).