TLDR; I chose Rust. Thanks.

Hello everyone. I just wanted to update everyone on the result of my deliberating on Odin, Zig and Rust.

After a long time thinking it over. It has become clear that to me in personal opinion that Rust will be the best choice.

Both in terms of the compiler keeping me a solo dev producing correct code. Without the requirement for a Quality Assurance team. And also i know it really well and languages such as Odin and Zig are fantastic and I am advising my son to learn game-dev with Odin.

However, ultimately for producing quality reliable machine code. I feel that Rust is a better choice than Odin or Zig.

Thanks to everyone who commented and helped me find the decision i was looking for <3

Yes and although since originally posting, I’ve began to lean towards Rust. My son wants to learn how to program and Odin will be great for him <3

I already know C/C++, I love them but I never use them again. Rust’s borrow checker is still active in unsafe Rust, combined with Miri it detects most UB, leaks and various other problems. For instance I’m building a allocator now in Rust and i know it compiles and Miri didn’t complain, sure i can do it in C and use Valgrind but Rust makes it a dream.

I know for Odin there are 3 tools i was looking at which could validate it for UB and leaks at runtime, but what attracts me to Odin is the fact it’s not OOP and simple. I’m considering using it because i will be more debugging my game, rather than the language (to quote Zig).

But all that being said I’m good with Rust and it’s tooling, so I’m probably going to remain with Rust. But yours and everyone’s opinions is helping me form this so thank you!!

I’m reading his book to get up to speed on Odin as we speak

I agree Odin is simple which is why I’m drawn to it, after all i know computer science so really i don’t need a prescribed away to do something like in Rust. Rust is amazing, but it can be slow to develop in, the points is in the compiler as for a solo dev, it reduces my need for a code quality team. Odin just gets out the way and let’s you get going, it’s also Go like which i’m familiar with. I’ve been slowly planning to stick with Rust, i might help my son learn Odin though <3

😅

Hobby game engine, i’m debating if Odin being a quick, simple and performant language would help me get my idea from in my head into RAM

I love me some C, not C++ just C++. That isn’t to say C++ is a bad language, i just prefer the vanilla experience. I picked Rust for it’s expressive syntax and ergonomic approach to programming, also ofc the safety and the fact as a solo dev i cannot afford a quality assurance team to review my code.

I’m familiar and good at Rust. I know the syntax and can read and write it with easy but, there as some instances where Rust can be a pain. For instance quick prototyping. Rust can sometimes feel like i’m working on Rust not my engine.

Hence the Odin idea. I like the guy Ginger Bill who made it and although maybe not as performant as Rust it is simple and concise. I did investigate Zig but Zig feels like it’s a mess to be quite honest, that doesn’t mean i dislike or to any Zig fans i like it but it’s just not my cup of tea.

Also having to use Miri with Rust can make everything feel weird as Rust’s borrow checker has cases not found in other languages.

I think you might be correct. I’ve decide to build a hobby game-engine, as i was signed off from work with limited (if any chance of return), so i definitely have the time to do this and make some measurements. Good idea thank you