Pandas (different world: Python) arguably peaked in hype (if not popularity) before reaching 1.0

0.x doesn't say as much as it used to 20 years ago, many fine projects keep it for way too long.

Zig has a pretty well documented 1.0 goals. It was the first thing I heard about zig from Andrew about. https://youtu.be/5eL_LcxwwHg

Yes, that was the point. To understand what that "0.14" means, we need to know those "well documented 1.0 goals" and some hour long YouTube video. That is, merely the "0.14 version number" without context is not enough, like your previous comment said.

You look at the version, the milestones https://github.com/ziglang/zig/milestones, and it makes sense. The YouTube video is just more proof. Picking up a 0.14 software without looking the most basic thing about it like “oh, what kind of 0.14 is this” then complaining that “it’s not ready for prime time” is odd behavior