# Roc programming language

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/roc-programming-language/

13 people recommended Roc programming language in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 10 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for a strong mix of runtime performance, compile speed, type system, error handling and ergonomics; main caveat is it is pre-0.1 with compiler crashes and syntax changes.

Summary written by Claude from 28 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 27 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Friendly, Elm-inspired language design (3 comments in the sample): "worth checking out if you are interested in a modern Elm-inspired lang" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49082403)) "really hit the "friendly" part for a functional language" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48951999)) "I'm enjoying myself and I do like the language design." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48954492))
- Strong error handling (2 comments in the sample): "Roc really hits the sweet spot of: runtime performance, compilation speed, strong type system, error handling, and ergonomics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48958744)) "I think it has the best error handling of any language in the ~3 dozen I've tried." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48953381))
- Appealing ideas and philosophy (2 comments in the sample): "like a lot of the ideas you have in Roc" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48377903)) "I quite like Roc's philosophy here" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47120908))
- Runtime performance and ergonomics (1 comment in the sample): "functional compiled language with good performance and Ruby ergonomics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50223065))

## What people warn about

- Pre-0.1, not ready for production (4 comments in the sample): "it's a pre-0.1.0 language and as such its production usage is extremely minimal for now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49375546)) "pre-0.1, pushing the compiler leads to crashes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49381703)) "Not yet because it's pre-0.1." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46846078))
- Compiler crashes (2 comments in the sample): "still has compiler crashes, there's a good reason it hasn't had a real release" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49253624)) "willing to deal with compiler crashes and regular syntax/feature changes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50219380))

## Other programming languages people recommend

- [Rust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust/): 1346 recommend, 468 mixed, 715 criticize
- [Go](https://hackerapproved.com/p/go-programming-language/): 855 recommend, 270 mixed, 513 criticize
- [Python](https://hackerapproved.com/p/python/): 683 recommend, 261 mixed, 719 criticize
- [Zig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zig/): 454 recommend, 181 mixed, 358 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Roc programming language", https://hackerapproved.com/p/roc-programming-language/ (13 recommend, 5 mixed, 3 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.