Snap! programming language
Block programming language in Learning
People recommend Snap! as a low-floor language for kids that still scales up to real computer science concepts. Critics say it is poorly documented and rarely used outside its own environment.
People recommend Snap! as a low-floor language for kids that still scales up to real computer science concepts. Critics say it is poorly documented and rarely used outside its own environment.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 60%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Low floor, high ceiling
“consider Snap! ( https://snap.berkeley.edu/ ) over/after Scratch. It's nearly a superset, similarly "low-floor" but much "higher ceiling" powerful language.”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?” “Snap! is a real programming language with no ceiling, with the visual appearance of a toy.”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” “Snap! may in fact be better from the perspective of teaching computer science concepts”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” Teaches real computer science concepts
“Snap! also teaches real computer science at college level while staying accessible to kids”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” “Snap! may in fact be better from the perspective of teaching computer science concepts”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” Accessible to kids and adults
“Snap! also teaches real computer science at college level while staying accessible to kids”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” “This fixes the intimidation problem”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” Builds on Logo heritage
“thank you for all your work not just on Snap!, but on Logo before that”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” “I'm also a huge fan of Snap!, which has all the advantages of Logo”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Poorly documented, especially new features
“my biggest gripe with Snap is that they don't like to add documentation with new features”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” “it's not well documented like I mentioned earlier”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” Rarely used in real-world work
“I still don't see this being used like other languages for real stuff”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study” “it's not really something that's used in the real world”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study”
What people recommend instead
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scratch | 69 | 14 | 83% | 11 | 2 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Snap! programming languageThis page | 9 | 6 | 60% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I still don't see this being used like other languages for real stuff”
“it's mostly constrained to Snap and its environment.”
“it sounds extremely useful”
“Thank you for your work on Snap! and for finding the time to respond to our comments.”
“thank you for all your work not just on Snap!, but on Logo before that”
“it's not well documented like I mentioned earlier”
“It took us three tries to get the notation exactly right, but I'm super proud of it.”
“This fixes the intimidation problem”
“Snap! is a real programming language with no ceiling, with the visual appearance of a toy.”
“Snap! may in fact be better from the perspective of teaching computer science concepts”
“it's not really something that's used in the real world”
“my biggest gripe with Snap is that they don't like to add documentation with new features”
“It shouldn't matter what it's called, it shouldn't matter if what it's called changes”
“Any name that you can't type is going to be a problem.”
“My first attempt to place a statement (play sound at Hz) failed with a Type Error.”
“Snap! also teaches real computer science at college level while staying accessible to kids”
“I'm also a huge fan of Snap!, which has all the advantages of Logo”
“But I find debugging them is very painful.”
“This seems like a perfect example of reinventing the wheel”
“consider Snap! ( https://snap.berkeley.edu/ ) over/after Scratch. It's nearly a superset, similarly "low-floor" but much "higher ceiling" powerful language.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.