# PostScript

13 Hacker News commenters recommended PostScript and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a full, Turing-complete language that doubles as a file format, with a Lisp-like feel. Critics say it is clumsy for image processing and has small number limits.

## Why people recommend it

- Full programming language, Turing complete (3 comments): "PostScript is the authoring language: loops, conditionals, a full interpreter." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49506323)) "It is extremely useful to have a full programing language as a file format" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46240658)) "Postscript is pretty neat IMHO and it's Turing complete." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46319105))
- Lisp-like but more approachable (2 comments): "It's actually a pretty great language, like lisp/scheme but I found it to be more approachable somehow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47979848)) "had quite a lispy interactive feeling to it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47974410))
- Decent language with text and binary formats (2 comments): "PostScript is not so bad as a programming language, and it has a binary format as well as a text format, although the limits of numbers and some other things can be too small for many applications." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45958984)) "PostScript is a pretty good language by some metrics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770829))

## What people warn about

- Less used these days (2 comments): "One of the reasons we don't use PostScript so much any more." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47595353)) "turned out to be less useful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45833561))

## 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, "PostScript", https://hackerapproved.com/p/postscript/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).