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Imagine Microsoft announcing a browser different than IE... That's what Google is doing: a company famous for closing fast projects that don't get immediate tr

by vladd 15y ago

Imagine Microsoft announcing a browser different than IE... That's what Google is doing: a company famous for closing fast projects that don't get immediate traction launches a new programming language when they have Go out there already... Programming languages are like platform APIs: they effectively lock-in you into their environment. If you're in academia or doing research, you're free to throw out there whatever you want, but I'm not switching my development into this, at this stage there's too much risk and no proven benefits.

Rusky 15y ago
So don't switch your development to it. It's an experiment- academia, hobbyists, and other people who don't care about getting locked in will try it out and learn from it. Then either the language will succeed and you can switch if it turned out well, or it will fail and the programming community will learn from it. Just because Google is doing it doesn't mean it can't be an academic experiment. Experimentation with new programming languages is very much more useful than with new browsers, because you can't easily slap on new features to a programming language whereas you can on browsers.
- buff-a 15y ago
  Or it will succeed, you'll start using it, and then they'll pull the plug on it, or find some way to charge an outrageous amount of money for it.
- InclinedPlane 15y ago
  Paradox: how can a language become successful if it is only ever used in academia and hobbies? Look at perl, javascript, php, coffeescript, scala, etc. These languages became successful precisely because people started using them for production projects more or less on day 1.
  - Rusky 15y ago
    Example: some hobbyist will write an amazing web app with it and then some small studio will pick it up and it can grow from there. A lot of hobbyists are also professionals.
scott_s 15y ago
I can't find details on Dart, but it sounds like it addresses a different need than Go. Go is a systems programming language. Its goal is to supplant C and C++. I'm not sure what exactly they mean by "structured web programming," but it does not sound like a systems programming language would naturally fill that goal.
- icebraining 15y ago
  That's the definition of Go, but I've been using it, and I wouldn't mind at all writing a web backend using it. Its very pleasant and high level, despite having low level features. The static duck typing definitively helps.
aaronblohowiak 15y ago
Go is not meant to be a web programming language, but rather a systems programming language.
- enneff 15y ago
  Actually, Go is great for writing web apps. Just not on the client side.
estel 15y ago
No proven benefits? Not exactly a surprise for a language whose announcement has only just been announced.

by vladd 15y ago

Rusky 15y ago

So don't switch your development to it. It's an experiment- academia, hobbyists, and other people who don't care about getting locked in will try it out and learn from it. Then either the language will succeed and you can switch if it turned out well, or it will fail and the programming community will learn from it. Just because Google is doing it doesn't mean it can't be an academic experiment. Experimentation with new programming languages is very much more useful than with new browsers, because you can't easily slap on new features to a programming language whereas you can on browsers.

buff-a 15y ago
Or it will succeed, you'll start using it, and then they'll pull the plug on it, or find some way to charge an outrageous amount of money for it.
InclinedPlane 15y ago
Paradox: how can a language become successful if it is only ever used in academia and hobbies? Look at perl, javascript, php, coffeescript, scala, etc. These languages became successful precisely because people started using them for production projects more or less on day 1.
- Rusky 15y ago
  Example: some hobbyist will write an amazing web app with it and then some small studio will pick it up and it can grow from there. A lot of hobbyists are also professionals.

scott_s 15y ago

I can't find details on Dart, but it sounds like it addresses a different need than Go. Go is a systems programming language. Its goal is to supplant C and C++. I'm not sure what exactly they mean by "structured web programming," but it does not sound like a systems programming language would naturally fill that goal.

icebraining 15y ago
That's the definition of Go, but I've been using it, and I wouldn't mind at all writing a web backend using it. Its very pleasant and high level, despite having low level features. The static duck typing definitively helps.

aaronblohowiak 15y ago

Go is not meant to be a web programming language, but rather a systems programming language.

enneff 15y ago
Actually, Go is great for writing web apps. Just not on the client side.

estel 15y ago

No proven benefits? Not exactly a surprise for a language whose announcement has only just been announced.