# Odin programming language 108 Hacker News commenters recommended Odin programming language and 28 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 2 years (10 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** A clean, C-like systems language that makes low-level and game programming feel simple, with explicit allocators, SoA arrays and batteries-included libraries; critics cite nullable pointers and missing ecosystem pieces. ## Why people recommend it - Clean, consistent, thoughtful design (5 comments): "consistency of design and simplicity to Odin that makes low-level programming more ergonomic and enjoyable to me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48630340)) "every single feature has been very thoughtfully considered and designed to have the least amount of issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47884117)) "Odin is probably syntactically the cleanest of the lower level languages I’ve played with." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46352426)) - Batteries-included libraries (4 comments): "it was the first language that I picked for because I wanted C-esque speed and gui libraries being built in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48784252)) "plenty of people will still use Odin, primarily because there's a lot more batteries included" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48821888)) "It's very much game dev oriented and comes batteries included with many useful libraries." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46927770)) - Explicit allocator support (3 comments): "In Odin, allocators are passed in the init, stored as part of the struct and reused in the append." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50270227)) "They make an allocator an exposed thing and provide language and standard library support" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46491055)) "This is actually quite nice for writing allocation code when you'd like to opt into it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46451906)) - Enjoyable low-level programming (5 comments): "consistency of design and simplicity to Odin that makes low-level programming more ergonomic and enjoyable to me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48630340)) "Zig and Odin are much more enjoyable to write and provide enough safety for a lot of applications" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46028337)) "Odin scratches this "stick shift" itch for me better than anything else. Highly recommended." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49938921)) ## What people warn about - Allows NULL in pointer type (2 comments): "it makes the same mistake that Golang, C and others make regarding allowing NULL in the default pointer type" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46442089)) "Odin makes the same mistake as Golang did. It's not excusable IMHO in such a new language." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46442528)) - Lacks ecosystem libraries (2 comments): "The language still lacks basic things like SQL drivers, solid HTTPS stack, websockets" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46442066)) "hasn't really generated much discussion or interest in the broader programming language community" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48783388)) - Integer arithmetic edge cases (2 comments): "integer overflow is simply defined behavior rather than some form of trapping/notification systems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49451843)) "In Odin, Dividing the 16-bit signed integer -32768 by -1 results in taking SIGFPE." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48846715)) - Creator's personal taste drives design (3 comments): "Odin on the other hand is just some developer's personal taste marketed as "Programming Done Right"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48632885)) "the way Ginger Bill has moved regarding Jai has been weird, and this most recent announcement confirms it for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48863840)) "Odin doesn't (and won't ever according to its creator) implement specific concurrency strategies." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46125993)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Rust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust.md): 2039 recommend - [Go](https://hackerapproved.com/p/go-programming-language.md): 1254 recommend - [Python](https://hackerapproved.com/p/python.md): 1067 recommend - [Zig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zig.md): 743 recommend - [TypeScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typescript.md): 574 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Odin programming language", https://hackerapproved.com/p/odin-programming-language/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).