# Vale programming language

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Vale programming language and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People like its unusual memory safety design and the useful ideas it offers other languages. Critics say it is far from usable yet and still academic and slow moving.

## Why people recommend it

- Useful ideas to borrow (2 comments): "Arguably Crystal, Odin, Nim, Zig, V, Vale or Factor are even better!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46440627)) "I'd suggest they all have useful components to steal from" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45832903))
- Unusual, interesting design (2 comments): "Vale's generational references + region borrowing was a truly weird and unusual memory safety blend." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042827)) "wasn't aware of vale before but cool project!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48110252))

## What people warn about

- Not usable yet (1 comments): "pretty far from usable right now. I do hope it matures." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48210018))
- Academic and slow moving (1 comments): "That language seems very academic and slow moving at the moment though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46353370))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Rust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust.md): 2039 recommend
- [Go](https://hackerapproved.com/p/go-programming-language.md): 1254 recommend
- [Python](https://hackerapproved.com/p/python.md): 1067 recommend
- [Zig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zig.md): 743 recommend
- [TypeScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typescript.md): 574 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Vale programming language", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vale/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).