November 11, 2025
Brace yourself: curly wars
Myna: monospace typeface designed for symbol-rich programming
Myna puts symbols first; the crowd fights over curly braces, funky r’s, and a tricky ‘l’
TLDR: Myna is a new open-source coding font that prioritizes clear symbols and tidy alignment. The community instantly split into kerning nitpicks, curly-brace complaints, a repost call-out, and a wish for “!=” to become “≠,” making this more about taste and code aesthetics than pure functionality.
Myna is a new coding font that says symbols deserve star billing—think arrows that look like arrows and operators that line up neatly. But the internet’s typography tribunal rolled in fast. One camp loves the crisp symbols and clear look; the other is stuck on the vibes: flat “r,” stiff “p,” and that mysterious ‘l’ that looks different in the promo vs. examples. Cue the kerning court arguing over the spacing in “lines.”
Then came the curly-brace wars. One commenter loathes the now-trendy swoopy brackets, while another side-eye’d the sample code itself like a TV courtroom drama—calling out missing checks and even the variable name “FILE *f.” Meanwhile, the Repost Police blew the whistle with a link, because of course they did.
Fans say Myna’s promise is simple and smart: a clean, monospace font (every character the same width) that finally treats symbols like first-class citizens. Critics want more: someone wished “!=” would just become “≠” (a typographic shortcut called a ligature), even though Myna’s current release skips ligatures entirely. Open-source under the SIL license and available on GitHub, Myna’s inviting feedback—good news, because the comments have notes, and they’re not shy.
Key Points
- •Myna is a monospace font optimized for programming, emphasizing ASCII symbols and multi-character operator alignment.
- •The current release offers a single weight without ligatures and supports synthesized bold via fontconfig and pango on Linux.
- •Design features include minimalist punctuation, balanced symbol weight, and clear differentiation between look‑alike characters.
- •Language-aware considerations are included for Perl, Haskell, and C, with showcases across multiple languages and formats.
- •The font is open source under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, with installation instructions for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and invites community contributions via GitHub.