Headline features (as judged by me) are:
* A new WebAssembly backend, js/wasm, for the gc compiler.
* Preliminary support for modules, i.e., the first step towards a package manager built into the Go command.
* Improved support for debuggers, especially Delve.
* Removal of many direct system calls from the macOS runtime. Unlike on Linux, the macOS system call interface is not considered stable. Go 1.11 binaries are now less likely to break when you upgrade your macOS version because system calls are made through the proper channel (libc).
A lot of new stuff with the new go modules work including vgo and some interesting wasm work.
Specifically, optimized assembly instructions are used now in crypto code and also lot of optimizations have gone into the ARM assembler.
One example - https://gist.github.com/carlosedp/f85274ef2a9bacc773cf8ddeed....
I like the language though. Their green threads are still the best.
> It is intended that programs written to the Go 1 specification will continue to compile and run correctly, unchanged, over the lifetime of that specification. [...] Go programs that work today should continue to work even as future "point" releases of Go 1 arise (Go 1.1, Go 1.2, etc.).
I've found this to be upheld in practice, especially so for the standard library. I have yet to come across a case where I was concerned with which "version" of the standard library some project was written against. Are you perhaps talking about non-stdlib packages?
Even when bringing in a number of third-party packages, the only trouble I’ve had building Go projects has been in Windows (which is often treated by Gophers as a second-class platform).
I'm currently working on building all the coreclr/corefx repos for .NET Core. Their build system is incredibly convoluted.
Look, maybe the stdlib is rock solid. But every time I try to build a Go project, `go build` finds ten ways not to work.
Case in point: https://github.com/cretz/tor-dht-poc
Try building this. I have no idea what's wrong with it, but it doesn't work. It's cool tech, I want it, but I don't want to immerse myself in the world of hurt^WGo just to get it.
I did however at least attempt to fix the problem: https://github.com/cretz/tor-dht-poc/pull/2