kdb+ q
Ranked 5 of 7 array programming languages by recommenders
Recommended as a commercially viable array language with strong educational materials that fills a semantic gap left by K. Critics note it is closed source and that development has slowed.
Recommended as a commercially viable array language with strong educational materials that fills a semantic gap left by K. Critics note it is closed source and that development has slowed.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Development progress has slowed recently
“Unfortunately, progress has slowed a lot recently.”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “Solod – A Subset of Go That Translates to C”
Other array programming languages people recommend
The four most recommended other array 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J programming language | 23 | 10 | 70% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Uiua | 20 | 4 | 83% | 9 | — | Approved |
| BQN | 11 | 2 | 85% | 8 | — | Approved |
| K programming language | 11 | 5 | 69% | 5 | — | Approved |
| kdb+ qThis page | 7 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a great historical fiction book about the period that really gets into what was happening in Europe in the 16th century”
“a great novel: Q by Luther Blisset”
“a need to plug the semantic gap left by K and Q”
“Unfortunately, progress has slowed a lot recently.”
“This is more interesting project”
“well worth a read, especially if you enjoy all things Anabaptist”
“q is closed source so it isn't really viable to build anything out of it”
“They are in q/kdb and it's glorious.”
“this is probably the most commercially viable dialect to learn, with the best educational materials”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.