Go: A new system programing language

[Bill Baxter]

On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 7:56 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu
<SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:
> Bill Baxter wrote:
>>
>> Looks interesting.
>>
>> * Uses a module system
>> * Built-in arrays are value types.
>> * Python like slice syntx  a[lo:hi]
>> * immutable strings
>> * switch has no break.  Use "fallthrough" to fallthrough.
>> * Nested functions
>> * First class tuples  ( a,b = func(),   a,b=b,a )
>> * := for assignment
>> * Uses "var" to declare variables (this was chapmpioned by some here
>> instead of auto)
>> * varible type comes after declaration and is optional
>> * return type of functions comes after parameters
>> * No Windows port yet.  That's going to be a bit of a roadblock to
>> widespread adoption.
>> * Iota!?
>> * ...
>>
>> There's a lot there that looks either like D or like things people in
>> the D community have argued for.
>
> It's also missing quite a few things that people in the D community take for
> granted.

It's harder to find those when you're skimming through trying to get
the highlights with a 5 minute limit.  :-) What are some things is it
missing?   (Also recall that D lacked even templates until long after
its inception -- so if the language can muster some level of
acceptance, probably popular demand will eventually lead to adding
more of those missing features.)

>> And it's got the billion dollar backing of a major company.
>
> That part I missed.

I should have said "backing of a billion-dollar company" not
"billion-dollar backing".  Certainly it doesn't have the latter.  But
it has backing in some sense, anyway.  Even if it's the 20% time of
five guys, Google's paying them for that time.  And whether or not
they *have* any deep pocket backing, people will perceive a tie
between the company and the language, which means it can ride on the
wave of Google's excellent mind-share, esp. among programmers.   Ken
Thompson is also a very well-known and respected name from Unix and
Plan 9  (and Rob Pike too?).  These are all very strong marketing
advantages.  Looking to the future, I suspect if Google does adopt a
new systems language, it's much more likely to come from within than
be NIH.  Because that way they'll have much more control over it if,
and not have to worry so much about IP issues (not that Google spends
much time worrying about IP...), etc.   And if it becomes widely used
in Google, then that's a very bouncy spring board from which to foist
it on the rest of the world.

It's definitely going to be a strong competitor for D's audience.

--bb