Go: A new system programing language

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Bill Baxter wrote:
> 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.

Possibly, but IMHO not on technical merit at all. It is many years 
behind becoming usable for a real system. It will be interesting how it 
plays out.

Andrei