[purim]

hmmm but how much of a performance gain is there from say CPython or even Go?

The syntax of Zig appears to be quite user friendly but not sure if there are hidden pitfalls.

I am excited for Zig but careful in adopting new languages but if this takes off, what sort of changes might we see? Cheaper C/C++ programmers?

[com2kid]

> hmmm but how much of a performance gain is there from say CPython or even Go?

It depends on what you are doing.

If your python code is mainly calling out to highly optimized math routines, well, not much.

If you are doing lots of computationally intensive work, quite a bit.

If your Python code does a lot of allocating of memory, throws around lots of large objects, or has to parse a lot of inputs, then moving to a native language can be very beneficial.

> I am excited for Zig but careful in adopting new languages but if this takes off, what sort of changes might we see? Cheaper C/C++ programmers?

Newer more powerful languages tend to result in more complex software being written. Ignoring CPU and memory limits, no one would have been capable of writing a modern AAA game with the tools available back in 1992.

[stephc_int13]

I'd say at least 2x-5x with Go and 10x or more with CPython, depending on the type of work.

[flohofwoe]

It sounds like from your point of view, Zig, C, C++ and Rust are all pretty much interchangeable. I like Zig a lot, but don't expect that it will turn the world upside down. None of the new programming languages will make C, C++ or Rust more or less popular (not by a huge amount at least), they are just additional options to choose from. For instance C is alive and well at age 50, it will probably survive the next 50 years just fine (unless we switch to a completely different computing paradigm - but this would kill all other existing programming too).

[stephc_int13]

>if this takes off, what sort of changes might we see? Cheaper C/C++ programmers?

Zig is very likely to appeal to people who loves C, or newcomers who are looking for performance.

The quality-of-life gains might lead to marginal changes in productivity/cost, but I would not bet on it.