Zen-C
Shares rank 91 of 163 programming languages by recommenders
A C-like language with high-level conveniences such as closures and fast compiles. Critics say it is unclear what it adds over C, Rust or Zig.
A C-like language with high-level conveniences such as closures and fast compiles. Critics say it is unclear what it adds over C, Rust or Zig.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 16
- approval share
- 43%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 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
Fun, nice project
“i really like this project. fot me its the next level to your own custom C lib.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “it’s really cool, great work”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “That's a very nice project.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” Appealing closures and embed keyword
“nice to see it closure support.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “I love the keyword "embed"”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” Rational, readable language examples
“The whole language examples seem pretty rational, and I'm especially pleased / shocked by the `loop / repeat 5` examples.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “Zen C appears to be moving up very quickly, and even has autofree.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Zig 0.16.0 Release Notes”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Unclear what it adds
“I'm not sure what this adds to the point where people would actually use it over C or just going to Rust.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “It looks like a fun project, but I'm not sure what this adds”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “Overall it seems like the language repeats what ZIG does”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” - Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C”
- Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C”
Confusing or un-ergonomic syntax choices
“I won't know if variables are mutable or not unless I read the whole file looking for such directive.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “felt extremely un-ergonomic which seems to go against the stated goals of the language”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “Sadly, not by default -- you still have to go back and add an "f" before the string”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” - Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C”
- Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C”
Safety and defaults raise concerns
“Given an option that is configurable, why would the default setting be the one that increases probability of errors?”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “Constant hash seed? Never a good idea (std/core.zc)”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “No safety. Not portable (yet?).”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” Changed too much, vibe coded
“changed too many things at once for no good reason”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C” “The whole thing is vibe coded”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Zen-C: Write like a high-level language, run like C”
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
28 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“A language without the baggage or change in direction.”
“Zen C appears to be moving up very quickly, and even has autofree.”
“The whole thing is vibe coded”
“I love the keyword "embed"”
“i really like this project. fot me its the next level to your own custom C lib.”
“changed too many things at once for no good reason”
“nice to see it closure support.”
“I don't know why the author took this path. it's so confusing”
“Constant hash seed? Never a good idea (std/core.zc)”
“overly-hyped language with no practical benefits”
“No safety. Not portable (yet?).”
“Sadly, not by default -- you still have to go back and add an "f" before the string”
“It's not ideal but it seems like something an LSP could tell you on a hover event.”
“Compiles in 2s on my unexceptional hardware.”
“the deferred statements are only executed when the block exits normally”
“It's easier to rewrite the whole thing than going from the generated code.”
“This just doesn't add up in my view.”
“Given an option that is configurable, why would the default setting be the one that increases probability of errors?”
“It has stringly typed macros. It's not comparable to Zig's comptime, even if it calls it comptime”
“I won't know if variables are mutable or not unless I read the whole file looking for such directive.”
“The whole language examples seem pretty rational, and I'm especially pleased / shocked by the `loop / repeat 5` examples.”
“It looks like a fun project, but I'm not sure what this adds”
“That's a very nice project.”
“it’s really cool, great work”
“Overall it seems like the language repeats what ZIG does”
“felt extremely un-ergonomic which seems to go against the stated goals of the language”
“felt it looked really out of place to have I8 and F32 instead of i8 and f32”
“I'm not sure what this adds to the point where people would actually use it over C or just going to Rust.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.