Self programming language
Shares rank 110 of 163 programming languages by recommenders
Recommended as an influential, simple, highly dynamic language and environment that inspired later systems like Morphic and Smalltalk. No recurring caveats were recorded.
Recommended as an influential, simple, highly dynamic language and environment that inspired later systems like Morphic and Smalltalk. No recurring caveats were recorded.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 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.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Influential, mind-expanding ideas
“The original Self paper by David Ungar and Randall B. Smith is at least as powerful and mind expanding as great LSD”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “William Gibson and the trademarking of cyberspace” “Self is an old intellectual muse of mine”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Alan Kay: Shannon gave us a way of dealing with noisy channels [video]” Simple design, easier to optimise
“the simpler language turned out to be easier to make fast.”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Alan Kay: Shannon gave us a way of dealing with noisy channels [video]” “Self: The Power of Simplicity.”
Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “Scarf has moved away from Haskell”
Other programming languages people recommend
The four most recommended other 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.
See all 163 programming languages, rankedWhat people said
12 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“All just as dynamic as Python, and with quite usable JIT compilers.”
“The original Self paper by David Ungar and Randall B. Smith is at least as powerful and mind expanding as great LSD”
“Self is an old intellectual muse of mine”
“the simpler language turned out to be easier to make fast.”
“Morphic started on Self actually, maybe start there?”
“a platform that turns your CV into a personal website in under a minute”
“Self turns an existing CV into an editable personal website.”
“Self: The Power of Simplicity.”
“That allows you to prove 'human' or 'over 18' or 'not on the OFAC list' without revealing your name, date of birth or nationality.”
“You could, in theory, keep these things open and have a much more spatial feeling about the system.”
“Lisp systems and Self also have better support for it, I think.”
“even more excited by Self”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.