but maps are simpler to use (if appropriately provided by the language). maps/sets are also fundamentally building blocks for a lot of algorthms and structures

but maps are simpler to use (if appropriately provided by the language). maps/sets are also fundamentally building blocks for a lot of algorthms and structures, not having them makes it WAY harder to implement them. actually potential impossible as performance can easily degrade to a point where it's unusable when you use O(n) (or worse) lookups instead of O(1) ones. this is not a case of premature optimizations but of missing fundamental building blocks and if you don't want genetics, ok, do it like go did initially make the map special language thingy.