[HN Gopher] 300k USD Donation Pledged by Mitchell Hashimoto
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       300k USD Donation Pledged by Mitchell Hashimoto
        
       Author : rc00
       Score  : 87 points
       Date   : 2024-10-01 18:27 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (ziglang.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (ziglang.org)
        
       | samspenc wrote:
       | JFYI for anyone who may not know, the donor is the co-founder of
       | HashiCorp which was acquired by IBM earlier this year for $6B
       | https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/hashicorp-joins-ibm
       | 
       | He wrote about the donation on his own blog as well
       | https://mitchellh.com/writing/zig-donation
        
         | steveBK123 wrote:
         | Worth noting the merger is announced but neither (edit:
         | regulatory) approved nor completed.
        
         | hiccuphippo wrote:
         | He is also writting a terminal emulator called ghostty with
         | zig: https://mitchellh.com/ghostty
        
       | popularonion wrote:
       | I read https://ziglang.org/learn/why_zig_rust_d_cpp/ but I'm
       | still not clear on the endgame for this language. Is the plan to
       | kill both Rust and Go?
        
         | rgrmrts wrote:
         | No, the plan is to build a simple general purpose language.
         | Lots of folks already enjoy using Zig, and not every language
         | has to be in direct competition with others.
        
         | kristoff_it wrote:
         | We don't have VC money so the only endgame is to gift Zig to
         | people who happen to find it an effective tool, so that they
         | can make more software you can love.
        
         | AndyKelley wrote:
         | Endgame: After creating a language that encourages programmers
         | to make robust and optimal software, using a toolchain that
         | exemplifies these ideals by providing an order of magnitude
         | faster development iteration speed, point this energy towards
         | the ecosystem, with a focus on our core principle of
         | prioritizing the needs of end users. Building upon this rich
         | ecosystem of high quality software, create and maintain free,
         | libre, and open-source applications that outcompete proprietary
         | versions. I want to see the next Blender, the next Postgresql,
         | the next Linux. This is my vision.
         | 
         | Mitchell's Ghostty project is a perfect example of this
         | movement. At least, it will be when it is open sourced.
        
           | rc00 wrote:
           | > I want to see the next Blender, the next Postgresql, the
           | next Linux. This is my vision.
           | 
           | Do you think it makes sense to augment these existing (and
           | successful) open source projects with Zig (language and/or
           | toolchain)? Or should something grassroots and written
           | primarily in Zig be their eventual successor?
        
             | AndyKelley wrote:
             | Now that you mention it I forgot an important one! I want
             | to see the next VLC. And in fact J-B has mentioned on IRC
             | that he would be interested to see contributions to the
             | project using Zig.
        
         | skywhopper wrote:
         | Why would it need to kill anything? It's enough to be useful,
         | imo.
        
       | mahmoudimus wrote:
       | Thank you, Mitchell Hashimoto. I have always wondered why folks
       | who made their fortunes of technology do not give back
       | consistently. You are part of the few folks such as Jan Koum,
       | Gabriel Weinberg and I'm sure there others who I have failed to
       | mentioned. Thank you.
        
         | steveBK123 wrote:
         | Yeah agreed. You basically see small time donations, or boomers
         | once they have their $50B+ pile of money pledging to give it
         | away at death. Not a lot of big incremental giving in between
         | by $100M-$1B class.
         | 
         | I mean Gates is doing good work on poverty & global health for
         | sure, but hes quite the exception.
         | 
         | You don't see the durable institutions like new universities
         | being setup like after the gilded age. Not sure if its a tax
         | code thing or what.
         | 
         | One thought I've had, living in NYC, is that there are just
         | businesses structured to take every incremental dollar out of
         | you whether you are worth $0/$100K/$100M/$100B now. $100M
         | condos in 5 different cities, $1M supercars, private jets,
         | blade chopper from Manhattan to the jet, just so many ways to
         | part fools from their cash.
         | 
         | For context, David Rockefeller's old NYC townhouse, which he
         | lived in for 70 years, was for sale, post-renovation, for $50M
         | or so. Rockefeller name synonymous with old money wealth.
         | 
         | These days though, a $50M apartment might not even crack the
         | top 10 sales annually in 2020s NYC. New money is also hot money
         | by comparison.. I really do think our vintage of wealthy are
         | that much more rapacious.
        
       | Sphax wrote:
       | That's great to see, I've been using zig on and off for the past
       | 3 years, I really like the language so I'm happy to see it
       | gaining even more traction
        
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