984K views · May 27, 2026 · 1:13:11 · 5 HN recommenders · 7 mentions · discussed 2026
JetBrains interviews Zig creator Andrew Kelley about why Zig has no 1.0 after a decade, why the project left GitHub, and why it bans AI contributions. He also covers what makes Zig better than C and his views on open source.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN commenters point to it as a convincing primary-source interview showing Zig's cohesive design vision and the creator's level-headed reasoning.
“convinced me more than any design doc or blogpost could”HN comment, 2026
“convinced me more than any design doc or blogpost could”
Convincing interview with Zig's creator on why to learn Zig.
If you're unsure about spending the time to learn Zig, I really recommend watching the following interview with the creator of Zig this video convinced me more than any design doc or blogpost could
“I recommend you to watch Andrew Kelly interview”
Interview showing Zig's cohesive vision from its creator.
I recommend you to watch Andrew Kelly interview[0], while I'm not the target audience of Zig, I don't see him driving away any user. Also Jai as for now is a non existing language, just a selected few has access to it, but Jai approach is a kitchen sink, from what I saw it is all over the place in terms of features, now Zig vision feels cohesive. [0] this video
“I’d prefer that you watch this video interview with Andrew Kelley.”
Interview where Andrew Kelley describes Zig's design philosophy.
I’d prefer that you watch this video interview with Andrew Kelley. He is describing that. this video Personal thoughts: I think Zig will become more stable once 1.0 tag released. Currently I cant find a fix to my error in net. But the folks on Zig Discord server helping me out.
“It is a really interesting interview.”
Kelley explains Zig features, compares with C, Rust, Go, and why he created it.
I have the same feeling about Zig. In this interview [1], Andrew Kelley, creator of Zig, explains a lot of the features of the language; compares it against c, rust, go; and explains why he created the language. According to him, the killer feature of zig is the tool chain (compiler, linker, build system) since it has no dependencies. So, it will work in any OS/target you choose. It is a really interesting interview. However, Zig code is a bit hard for me to read. [1] this video
“are interesting and informative.”
Interview explaining the Zig Software Foundation's AI stance; informative primary source.
TFA has an odd perspective. > Views are my own. I have no history with Zig. I’ve never spoken to Andrew Kelley There are better primary sources to explain what ZSF is trying to achieve with its AI stance. Kelley's rant [0] was a bit much but the ZSF AI Policy [1] and Kelley's interview on it [2] are interesting and informative. [0]: link [1]: link [2]: this video
“Andrew Kelly on that”
Andrew Kelley addresses Zig's unused variable errors.
> It doesnt let you have unused variables Andrew Kelly on that: this video Looks like you might be able to get rid of the error easily with annotations.
“where he seemed much more chill and level-headed.”
Interview showing Kelley as chill and level-headed.
I've watched an interview with Andrew Kelley: this video where he seemed much more chill and level-headed.
