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0 pointsxyzzy_plugh2y ago0 comments

I doubt we can have a productive debate here as you're harping on issues I didn't even reference. Compared to peers, the language is stable, is readable and maintainable, full stop.

- The language has barely changed since inception

- most if not all behavior is localized and explicit meaning changes can be made in isolation nearly anywhere with confidence without understanding the whole

- localized behavior means readable in isolation. There is no metaprogramming macro, no implicit conversion or typing, the context squarely resolves to the bounds containing the glyphs displayed by your text editor of choice.

The goal was not to boil the ocean, the goal was to be better for most purposes than C/C++, Java, Python. Clearly the language has seen some success there.

Yes, abstractions can be useful. Yes, the average engineer should probably be barred from creating abstractions. Go discourages abstractions and reaps some benefits just by doing so.

Go feels like a massive step in the right direction. It doesn't have to be perfect or even remotely perfect. It can still be good or even great. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.

I think for the most part I'm in agreement with you, philosophically, but I don't get the hyperfocus on this issue. Most languages you consider better I consider worse, let's leave it at that.

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maccard2y ago

> Go feels like a massive step in the right direction

I agree. Go has it's warts, but given the choice between using net/http in go, tomcat in java, or cpprestsdk in c++, I'll pick Go any day.

In practice: - The toolchain is self contained, meaning install instructions don't start with "ensure you remove all traces of possibly conflicting toolchains" - it entirely removes a class of discussion of "opinion" on style. Tabs or spaces? Import ordering? Alignment? Doesn't matter, use go fmt. It's built into the toolchain, everyone has it. Might it be slightly more optimal to do X? Sure, but there's no discussion here.

- it hits that sweet spot between python and C - compilation is wicked fast, little to no app startup time, and runtime is closer to C than it is to python.

- interfaces are great and allow for extensions of library types.

- it's readable, not overly terse. Compared to rust, e.g. [0], anyone who has any programming experience can probably figure out most of the syntax.

We've got a few internal services and things in Go,vanr we use them for onboarding. Most of my team have had PR's merged with bugfixes on their first day of work, even with no previous go experience. It lets us care about business logic from the get go.

[0] https://github.com/getsentry/symbolicator/blob/master/crates...

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