4 ms·

Is Go “supposed to be a modern language”? I'm not sure even the language designers would agree with that characterization.

by zellyn 7y ago

Thaxll 7y ago
What is a modern language anyway?
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  Well, for one, it handles text as being UTF-8 by default, even at the lowest level (and in no case assumes that byte = character !)
- pjmlp 7y ago
  One that takes into account features that have made into the mainstream during the last 20 years, instead of feeling like an Algol-68 subset.
  - Thaxll 7y ago
    I don't care about the features in the last 20 years if I'm able to do my job efficiently which Go as a language provides. Never wonder why those great academics languages with a ton of features are not adopted?
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      So now languages like Java, Swift, Kotlin are academic languages?
      - fwip 7y ago
        Java is like 25 years old, you know.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        I know, but apparently it has too many academic features not worthy of Go's adoption.
    - staticassertion 7y ago
      If you don't care about literally decades of progress you're just a bad software developer.
  - geodel 7y ago
    I see Javascript made it mainstream for all sort of clients and servers, Electron desktop apps made it to mainstream. So I remain skeptic to argument just because new features have been invented they are good or need to be implemented everywhere.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      JavaScript enjoyed being the only option with regards to browser as platform. Go is only inevitable for those that need to deal with Docker and Kubernetes, the NoSQL hype successors.
      - tracker1 7y ago
        Been a fan of JS since before The Good Parts book. Used it server-side in Classic ASP, Netscape Server and a couple more obscure runtimes before Node.js. Personally, I find Rust as more approachable and easier to wrap my head around opposed to Go. Though some of the syntax changes I don't like as much. Waiting on async/await to land in a couple months though.
        geodel 7y ago
        No surprise there. Rust is most loved language in so many surveys. Most devs planning to learn in near future. Many say it will be polished and ready by next year. I personally feel it may be ready for general developers like linux desktop will be ready for general users next year.
        tracker1 7y ago
        I think it's already ready for a lot of use cases... though, I think baked in async/await will carry it across the line for many. It's good for low-level duties and even has some decent/good web server frameworks. The webassembly flow is better than a lot of tools as well. I think that there will be some work around nicer UI/UX tooling for graphical apps, but it's still very usable as it is.
  - paavohtl 7y ago
    Hey, that's not fair for ALGOL 68. It had sum types, pattern matching and everything-is-an-expression [1]. [1] https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=356671 https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=356671
    - unscaled 7y ago
      I guess that's why Go is a subset :) Although to be fair to Go, I don't think ALGOL 68 had a (slightly broken) implementation of CSP and HTTP/2.0 support in the standard library.
  - ryuukk_ 7y ago
    so it then needs to carry a heavy runtime just like hum, java and hum c# ? these two languages will miss the web assembly revolution
krferriter 7y ago
I would say it is a modern language or attempts to be one, as it was designed recently, and was able to take lessons from a variety of older languages. Rust and Go are probably the most popular general purpose, good performance modern languages. Swift and TypeScript are also pretty modern.

Is Go “supposed to be a modern language”? I'm not sure even the language designers would agree with that characterization.

by zellyn 7y ago

Is Go “supposed to be a modern language”? I'm not sure even the language designers would agree with that characterization.

Thaxll 7y ago

What is a modern language anyway?

BlueTemplar 7y ago
Well, for one, it handles text as being UTF-8 by default, even at the lowest level (and in no case assumes that byte = character !)
pjmlp 7y ago
One that takes into account features that have made into the mainstream during the last 20 years, instead of feeling like an Algol-68 subset.
- Thaxll 7y ago
  I don't care about the features in the last 20 years if I'm able to do my job efficiently which Go as a language provides. Never wonder why those great academics languages with a ton of features are not adopted?
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    So now languages like Java, Swift, Kotlin are academic languages?
    - fwip 7y ago
      Java is like 25 years old, you know.
      - pjmlp 7y ago
        I know, but apparently it has too many academic features not worthy of Go's adoption.
  - staticassertion 7y ago
    If you don't care about literally decades of progress you're just a bad software developer.
- geodel 7y ago
  I see Javascript made it mainstream for all sort of clients and servers, Electron desktop apps made it to mainstream. So I remain skeptic to argument just because new features have been invented they are good or need to be implemented everywhere.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    JavaScript enjoyed being the only option with regards to browser as platform. Go is only inevitable for those that need to deal with Docker and Kubernetes, the NoSQL hype successors.
    - tracker1 7y ago
      Been a fan of JS since before The Good Parts book. Used it server-side in Classic ASP, Netscape Server and a couple more obscure runtimes before Node.js. Personally, I find Rust as more approachable and easier to wrap my head around opposed to Go. Though some of the syntax changes I don't like as much. Waiting on async/await to land in a couple months though.
      - geodel 7y ago
        No surprise there. Rust is most loved language in so many surveys. Most devs planning to learn in near future. Many say it will be polished and ready by next year. I personally feel it may be ready for general developers like linux desktop will be ready for general users next year.
        tracker1 7y ago
        I think it's already ready for a lot of use cases... though, I think baked in async/await will carry it across the line for many. It's good for low-level duties and even has some decent/good web server frameworks. The webassembly flow is better than a lot of tools as well. I think that there will be some work around nicer UI/UX tooling for graphical apps, but it's still very usable as it is.
- paavohtl 7y ago
  Hey, that's not fair for ALGOL 68. It had sum types, pattern matching and everything-is-an-expression [1]. [1] https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=356671 https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=356671
  - unscaled 7y ago
    I guess that's why Go is a subset :) Although to be fair to Go, I don't think ALGOL 68 had a (slightly broken) implementation of CSP and HTTP/2.0 support in the standard library.
- ryuukk_ 7y ago
  so it then needs to carry a heavy runtime just like hum, java and hum c# ? these two languages will miss the web assembly revolution

krferriter 7y ago

I would say it is a modern language or attempts to be one, as it was designed recently, and was able to take lessons from a variety of older languages. Rust and Go are probably the most popular general purpose, good performance modern languages. Swift and TypeScript are also pretty modern.