Vale programming language
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 94 of 163 programming languages by recommenders
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.
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.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 85%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 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
Useful ideas to borrow
“Arguably Crystal, Odin, Nim, Zig, V, Vale or Factor are even better!”
Comment from 31 Dec 2025 in “Go Away Python” “I'd suggest they all have useful components to steal from”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Radiant Computer” Unusual, interesting design
“Vale's generational references + region borrowing was a truly weird and unusual memory safety blend.”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “Valen's Memory Safety: A New Kind of Borrow Checking” “wasn't aware of vale before but cool project!”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not usable yet
“pretty far from usable right now. I do hope it matures.”
Comment from 20 May 2026 in “Everything in C is undefined behavior” Academic and slow moving
“That language seems very academic and slow moving at the moment though.”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “Rue: Higher level than Rust, lower level than Go”
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
13 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Vale definitely taught me a lot about languages and architecture”
“Vale's generational references + region borrowing was a truly weird and unusual memory safety blend.”
“Now I just use a vale lint script I made”
“something deterministic like vale.sh”
“It's far from perfect but it does help eliminate a lot of the common tells.”
“the author would be advised to use vale [1] with samples of their own writing as a guide”
“pretty far from usable right now. I do hope it matures.”
“wasn't aware of vale before but cool project!”
“we were paying a lot of interest on tech debt because features were put in the wrong pass”
“Vale, which generally just annoys the hell out of contributors instead of helping them.”
“Arguably Crystal, Odin, Nim, Zig, V, Vale or Factor are even better!”
“That language seems very academic and slow moving at the moment though.”
“I'd suggest they all have useful components to steal from”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.