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Love Python, but very happy to be writing Go instead now, to give one example of a post-90s language. (Their intersection of uses isn't total, of course; Pytho

by dilap 10y ago

Love Python, but very happy to be writing Go instead now, to give one example of a post-90s language. (Their intersection of uses isn't total, of course; Python's still got Go handily beat for numpy-ish stuff and interactive use. See Julia for a possibly-superior post-90s competitor in those areas, though I've only played with it.)

bryanlarsen 10y ago
I would argue that Go is very much a 90s language. It has none of the benefits of a 21st century language, none of the (as yet mostly unknown) drawbacks of a 21st century language, and fixes the drawbacks of 90s languages that we've learned over the last 25 years. This definitely should not be interpreted as a slight on Go, many people would very happily trade that lack of benefits to get that lack of drawbacks.
- dilap 10y ago
  Yeah, Go is more of a "synthesis" language, trying to conservatively use proven-out techniques in a very refined, cohesive whole. To me it is still "post-90s"; see my response to zephyrfalcon for details. :)
zephyrfalcon 10y ago
Interesting, because a common criticism of Go is that it's "stuck in the 70s". [1] It's "modern" only because of its age, not because of its features. [1] https://github.com/ksimka/go-is-not-good https://github.com/ksimka/go-is-not-good
- dilap 10y ago
  Part of Go's charm is how much it leaves out. But that's not to say it doesn't include good stuff. I'd say support for lightweight threading, CSP (channels), structural typing, fully embracing first-class functions (crippled python lambda, anyone?), and a build-system integrated into the language rather than left to 3rd-party-tools are all distinctly post-90s features, for a mainstream language. Also, gofmt is a huge boon. The Go community focuses on ecosystem and ergonomic human factors of development feels distinctly post-90s-lanauge to me. Also, the 90s saw an intense, misguided focus on "object-oriented-programming", which Go completely, mercifully ditches. In that sense, it's post-90s. :) (Well, OK, maybe OO-style programming is good for UIs -- thinking of stuff like iOS/Cocoa apis and Unity.)
howeman 10y ago
Go has a large chuck of numpy/scipy stuff github.com/gonum

by dilap 10y ago

bryanlarsen 10y ago

I would argue that Go is very much a 90s language. It has none of the benefits of a 21st century language, none of the (as yet mostly unknown) drawbacks of a 21st century language, and fixes the drawbacks of 90s languages that we've learned over the last 25 years. This definitely should not be interpreted as a slight on Go, many people would very happily trade that lack of benefits to get that lack of drawbacks.

dilap 10y ago
Yeah, Go is more of a "synthesis" language, trying to conservatively use proven-out techniques in a very refined, cohesive whole. To me it is still "post-90s"; see my response to zephyrfalcon for details. :)

zephyrfalcon 10y ago

Interesting, because a common criticism of Go is that it's "stuck in the 70s". [1] It's "modern" only because of its age, not because of its features. [1] https://github.com/ksimka/go-is-not-good https://github.com/ksimka/go-is-not-good

dilap 10y ago
Part of Go's charm is how much it leaves out. But that's not to say it doesn't include good stuff. I'd say support for lightweight threading, CSP (channels), structural typing, fully embracing first-class functions (crippled python lambda, anyone?), and a build-system integrated into the language rather than left to 3rd-party-tools are all distinctly post-90s features, for a mainstream language. Also, gofmt is a huge boon. The Go community focuses on ecosystem and ergonomic human factors of development feels distinctly post-90s-lanauge to me. Also, the 90s saw an intense, misguided focus on "object-oriented-programming", which Go completely, mercifully ditches. In that sense, it's post-90s. :) (Well, OK, maybe OO-style programming is good for UIs -- thinking of stuff like iOS/Cocoa apis and Unity.)

howeman 10y ago

Go has a large chuck of numpy/scipy stuff github.com/gonum