Uiua
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 7 array programming languages by recommenders
Recommended as an easy entry to array languages, with a visual, interactive tutorial and fun audio and graphics. Critics doubt it suits large projects.
Recommended as an easy entry to array languages, with a visual, interactive tutorial and fun audio and graphics. Critics doubt it suits large projects.
24 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 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
Easiest entry into array languages
“I believe Uiua is an excellent one to look at first. It's simpler than the others you mentioned without sacrificing any power”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “In Praise of APL (1977)” “Definitely a language of choice for getting into array languages in my opinion.”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “A Letter from Dijkstra on APL” “It is by far the easiest way to learn an array based language”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Array-programming the Mandelbrot set” Visual, interactive, satisfying learning experience
“Making the learning experience so visual and interactive makes getting into the language exceptionally satisfying right from the start”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “A Uiua Type System” “Just started going through the tutorial, and it is, indeed, mega-cool.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Array-programming the Mandelbrot set” Compact, elegant solutions
“"thinking in arrays" helps me come up with more elegant solutions.”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “Array-programming the Mandelbrot set” “it is amazing how compact the solutions are”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Advent of Code 2025” Audio and graphics capabilities
“Uiua has the capability to do audio and graphics/animations and scratches my array/stack itch.”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Cagire: Live Coding in Forth” “It's very ergonomic, and has awesome and fun facilities for audio and video rendering!”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Mastering Dyalog APL”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Glyph syntax is hard to read
“I like the idea of glyphs but it does not seem to mix well with the above use of the word tacit”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “uiua 0.18.0” “extremely cool but completely incomprehensible language”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Project Euler”
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 |
| UiuaThis page | 20 | 4 | 83% | 9 | — | Approved |
| BQN | 11 | 2 | 85% | 8 | — | Approved |
| K programming language | 11 | 5 | 69% | 5 | — | Approved |
| kdb+ q | 7 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
22 of the 26 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Same with K and Uiua and Matlab.”
“Making the learning experience so visual and interactive makes getting into the language exceptionally satisfying right from the start”
“I like APL/J/Uiua, so this is perfect.”
“Uiua has the capability to do audio and graphics/animations and scratches my array/stack itch.”
“It's very ergonomic, and has awesome and fun facilities for audio and video rendering!”
“then Uiua is just for you”
“Definitely a language of choice for getting into array languages in my opinion.”
“Offshoots like BQN and Uiua have nice communities too.”
“I like the idea of glyphs but it does not seem to mix well with the above use of the word tacit”
“I believe Uiua is an excellent one to look at first. It's simpler than the others you mentioned without sacrificing any power”
“That may require a little more mental bandwidth than I can summon right now. It looks incredibly cool, though.”
“there's also a forth-meets-APL project called uiua if you really want to get funky”
“Uiua is much easier to understand in this regard.”
“That was a bold choice that it didn't go well”
“it is amazing how compact the solutions are”
“Great for showing off, no-one else can read your solution”
“But Uiua doesn’t support big ints, just f64.”
“Just started going through the tutorial, and it is, indeed, mega-cool.”
“extremely cool but completely incomprehensible language”
“It is by far the easiest way to learn an array based language”
“I can't really imagine trying to work on a large (even just thousands of lines, let alone larger) project in them”
“"thinking in arrays" helps me come up with more elegant solutions.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.