Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation • Hacker News Board

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#161

Post by rootlocus » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

hresvelgr wrote: post #8

Another language that is in a similar space to Zig that I think deserves more attention, particularly for funding is Odin. While I think Zig is a great language, there is a consistency of design and simplicity to Odin that makes low-level programming more ergonomic and enjoyable to me. While Zig boasts a lot of impressive projects, Odin was used to build the JangaFX suite[1]. [1] https://jangafx.com/

Ginger Bill, the Odin language developer, is openly hostile against package managers (he wrote a post called "Package Managers Are Evil") so he maintains his own wrappers of popular C libraries in vendor folder next to the compiler. That doesn't sound like a healthy ecosystem to me.

I think zig is also highly opinionated but it always seemed to me that Andrew started from solid pillars and made an excellent job of carefully considering each feature that was added to the language:

- No hidden control flow.

- No hidden memory allocations.

- No preprocessor, no macros.

Odin on the other hand is just some developer's personal taste marketed as "Programming Done Right". So, if you disagree with any choice Bill made, you're not doing programming right.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#162

Post by ff317 » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #70

bluGill wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of money to get over that hump is small. Many people in poverty are happy. If you are at the very bottom with not enough to eat and such money can buy happiness, but you can be below the poverty line and still be about as happy as everyone.

This is a lie that people with money tell themselves to make themselves feel better about not giving away more of their money (ironically, proving themselves correct). There's certainly a point of diminishing returns, and I'd even agree that it is a cliff. Once you have a decent place to live, and your day-to-day worries about paying the bills are covered, and unexpected emergencies do not threaten your ability to ge…

Quite a bit indeed. Forbes ran an article a few months ago claiming that a family of four with two incomes needs to be earning a combined $400K to be able to reasonably afford the paid child care needed for both parents to be working.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#163

Post by mitchellh » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:13 PM UTC

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #136

grim_io wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a very privileged out of touch comment to make, no offense. In many(most?) parts of the world, $400 is the equivalent of months of good salary.

How is it out of touch? I donated much more than Hashimoto did relative to our net worths, but I cannot deny that I would have felt much more satisfied making a 1000x impact if I was a billionaire. I donated $6000 to a halfway house last year and that doesn’t even come close to covering a single bed for a year. If I was a billionaire I could have built an entire halfway house.

> How is it out of touch? I donated much more than Hashimoto did relative to our net worths, but I cannot deny that I would have felt much more satisfied making a 1000x impact if I was a billionaire.

You have no way of possibly knowing this. And I bet you its not true.

I'm no longer a billionaire, partially because I paid an astronomical amount in taxes (I don't play the tax avoidance games). And partially because we're donating a whole lot more than $400K per year. This is ONE donation. We don't publicize most of our giving because it attracts armchair critics like you, and its distracting from the goals.

(I make an exception for Zig and technical things because my influence for better and worse usually is net positive for the initiative)

But, more importantly, I don't think playing these "my donation is worth more than yours" games is productive. If you want to think that way thats fine, I won't defend myself or my family any further than this post.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#164

Post by AlotOfReading » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

fhn wrote: post #64

asimovDev wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't think my bank will let me withdraw 400k in cash with the reasoning of "I want to throw it"

your bank owns your money?

It's the norm in the US (and pretty much everywhere else with well-implemented developed financial infrastructure) for banks to apply extra scrutiny and roadblocks to large withdrawals. There's a patio11 article going over some of the reasons [0], but it notably generates paperwork for the bank reporting the withdrawal to the government and enables a lot of fraud to allow immediate access.

[0] https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/two-americas-one-bank...

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#165

Post by novafunc » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

johnwheeler wrote: post #119

Lerc wrote: post #34

It's great to be in a position to do this, however I'm beginning to think that their greater contribution is ghostty I don't really know how to value things any more when I see someone develop a tool that is kind-of useful that then gets acquired for half a billion dollars. As someone with a decent number of decades of terminal hopping, the improvement that ghostty has brought a breath of fresh air. To me it has repr…

I use Ghost TTY coming from iTerm for no other reason than I saw everybody else using and praising it. Is there some special feature I'm missing? I would only call it a marginal improvement. If that. I fail to see what the big deal is.

For me,

* available on Linux and macOS

* settings easy to transfer, just a file

* comes with Jetbrains Mono Nerd font built-in, no need to install it separately

* supports ligatures

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#166

Post by mitchellh » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #125

sph wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can 'throw' what you can afford and it will feel as satisfying. Just try it.

If you assume Hashimotos net worth is one billion dollars, a $400k donation is equivalent to a $400 donation if your net worth is one million dollars. I don’t believe donating $400 really feels that satisfying, the impact is fairly negligible in most contexts whereas donating $400k can very visibly improve a lot of lives. I think this illustrates just how much a billion dollars is and maybe why a very small wealth ta…

> If you assume Hashimotos net worth is one billion dollars, a $400k donation is equivalent to a $400 donation if your net worth is one million dollars.

1. Net worth is significantly less than that (taxes + heavy philanthropy)

2. $400K donation is orders (plural) of magnitude off our actual philanthropic giving in total. This is just one donation.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#167

Post by mediaman » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #138

jjtheblunt wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think this illustrates ... why a very small wealth tax can be used for a lot of good in society. isn't the accrued billion dollars what remains after a much larger amount was taxed at roughly 50%? (of course could be spread across multiple years, but the essence remains) How would the "very small wealth tax" be calculated, that you propose?

> wasn't the accrued billion dollars the remainder after being taxed at a much higher rate (around 50% federal and state, if California) as it was being accrued? Most capital owned by billionaires is not taxed until it is sold, so in the case of Hashimoto and others they most likely have not paid tax on the majority of their wealth. > How would the "very small wealth tax" be calculated, that you propose? In the same…

He has this wealth as a function of having sold the equity in the company he co-founded, so in fact virtually all his wealth has already gone through a tax event at the federal and state levels.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#168

Post by seanclayton » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

lukaslalinsky wrote: post #63

tadasv wrote: post #53

This is great IMO. I like zig as a language and the idea behind it. But boy, it has a syntax issue. I with they figure out better syntax before 1.0, developer ergonomics I think are as important.

Zig has multiple issues, but syntax is definitely not it. It might take a little bit of time getting used to, if you are coming from another language, but it's one of the most readable languages I've ever worked with.

Lisps have multiple issues, but syntax is definitely not it. It might take a little bit of time getting used to, if you are coming from another language, but LISPs are some of the most readable languages I've ever worked with.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#169

Post by tetha » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

thomascountz wrote: post #27

cyber_kinetist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really do not understand how people talk about "Being rich / being a billionaire will make you fundamentally unhappy". Damn if I had all the money I have so many good-willed projects I want to throw money at!

Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy less unhappiness. There's diminishing returns, of course, but I'd hazard it looks a bit like ln(n), in that the returns are quite significant in the beginning.

The terms I've learned to use is rather: Happiness, and Stressors.

If you need your car to earn money, and you don't have the money or other resources to repair it if it breaks - that's a huge uncertainty and a huge source of stress and worry. Liquid funds can remove that source of stress. More drastic examples would include rent or food.

That's why liquid funds can remove impediments and distractions from your life, but once all of those are gone, then what?

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#170

Post by zorobo » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

KerrAvon wrote: post #141

Xirdus wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More money absolutely does make it easier to have social life. It absolutely does make it easier to cure curable diseases as well as live the life to the fullest when you have incurable diseases. And increasing your wealth is strongly correlated with gaining respect of people who were born into similar backgrounds and socioeconomic conditions as you were. More cynically, wealth makes it both easier to attract a roman…

None of that makes you happier. Define happiness, but there's a baseline for not being miserable (I have enough to eat etc) and then there's actual satisfaction with your life. If you doubt the thesis, consider the extreme examples of Musk and Trump. they have infinite wealth and power and are demonstrably, publicly miserable. The consistently happiest people I've personally met are Buddhist monks of various sects, w…

> If you doubt the thesis, consider the extreme examples of Musk and Trump. they have infinite wealth and power and are demonstrably, publicly miserable.

Trump/Musk without money would be more miserable I surmise.