11 ms·

The Go Programming Language turns two

109 points by enneff 15y ago

melling 15y ago
Two is very young for a language. Scala is 8 years old and starting to gain a larger following. Having said that, does anyone on HN have a good story about using Go in production? Scala can be snuck in with Java. Go is going to be a little more difficult to get in the back door.
- Detrus 15y ago
  Go's major advantage is its cute mascot. At Google, Go seems to be competing with Python. http://www.quora.com/Which-is-easier-to-program-in-Python-or-Go http://www.quora.com/Which-is-easier-to-program-in-Python-or... Looks like for certain problems that don't need to interoperate with the larger system and don't need big library support, Go can sneak in.
- krasin 15y ago
  >does anyone on HN have a good story about using Go in production? http://tinkercad.com http://tinkercad.com http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/08/tinkercad-raises-1-million/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/08/tinkercad-raises-1-million/ (HN user kaib can say more)
  - kaib 15y ago
    Krasin is right, most of the stuff on tinkercad.com is written in Go. There are a few inner loops that use C++ to get better SSE optimizations.
- JonnieCache 15y ago
  Heroku use it for their Doozer datastore which manages their distributed grid thingy. Info here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/05/google_go/print.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/05/google_go/print.html http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html http://xph.us/2011/04/13/introducing-doozer.html http://xph.us/2011/04/13/introducing-doozer.html And of course google use it internally.
- jshen 15y ago
  I like go because it has good concurrency and doesn't use a boatload of RAM like the JVM.
- genbattle 15y ago
  Go is possibly easier to get into production than something based on a hefty VM, because it compiles down into one relatively small executable (except for any dynamically linked libraries being used through cgo). If you've compiled a binary executable for the target platform all you have to do is put the executable on the production machine and run. No additional runtimes, no extra libraries or vm extensions. Everything you need is right there in that executable. I find this to be a big advantage for using Go over something like Python or Java. You still need any dynamically linked DLLs, but all the Go code itself and the runtime is statically compiled and linked into the executable produced by gc. As for the concerns about it not being used in production, there's Heroku: http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html All this is completely ignoring the fact that the language itself has a really nice syntax, and some excellent concurrency support. Nothing it does is particularly new, but I think Go is greater than the sum of its parts.
- edsrzf 15y ago
  I work at Iron.io[1]. Our new SimpleWorker API[2] is written in Go and we'll soon be releasing another service implemented with Go. [1] http://iron.io/ http://iron.io/ [2] http://blog.simpleworker.com/2011/11/simpleworker-has-shiny-new-gem-and.html http://blog.simpleworker.com/2011/11/simpleworker-has-shiny-...
- luriel 15y ago
  There are a surprising number of organizations using Go in production for such an extremely young and fast evolving language, and they all seem quite happy with it, including Canonical, Heroku, the Open Knowledge Foundation and others For an unofficial and incomplete list see: http://go-lang.cat-v.org/organizations-using-go http://go-lang.cat-v.org/organizations-using-go
dlsspy 15y ago
Wow, my memcached server in go is going to be two years old tomorrow. :)
- luriel 15y ago
  Fun fact: Brad Fitzpatrick, author of the original (in C) memcached is now part of the core Go team at Google. One thing he did was write this memcached client lib that is used for Go on AppEngine: https://github.com/bradfitz/gomemcache https://github.com/bradfitz/gomemcache But I'm not sure a new memcached server in Go is coming, I think he is more interested in his 'copious' spare time to hack on Camlistore: http://camlistore.org http://camlistore.org which is a really cool but a bit hard to describe project with lots of Go code.
bcowcher 15y ago
I've always wondered if Google would look at the possibility of making Go a supported language to use with Android.
- tree_of_item 15y ago
  Android and Native Client are two big areas that would help to give Go traction. If Google really cared about Go's adoption they would certainly talk about integration with these.
- notatoad 15y ago
  My understanding of go is that it was designed for highly parallelized tasks like servers. That doesnt really seem like a good fit for a handset os.
  - melling 15y ago
    It has a small memory footprint which would be great on a mobile device. Also, the entire dev cycle would be much improved. The Java/Dalvik cycle with the emulator is slow.
    - luriel 15y ago
      Also the great concurrency model would be nice to handle the ever-growing number of inputs (and outputs) mobile apps have to deal with.
- markokocic 15y ago
  Google support for Go in their products seems half-hearted at most. Seems like only a few engineers in core Go team are working on it. AppEngine doesn't support Go (no, without windows Go SDK it is not supported). Android doesn't support native full featured Go apps, although in theory it seems like a perfect match. Given that lack of support, I'm not even sure it is as widely used inside Google, or the story about inside usage is just a marketing.
  - 15y ago
joelthelion 15y ago
I've been using Go for the AI challenge, and it's been an awesome experience. I feel like I'm programming in Python (well, almost), but then I head to the forums and I see all these Python programmers discussing how to tweak their programs so that they don't time out. Mine runs in a few milliseconds with no particular effort. Thanks, Go!
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- rudiger 15y ago
  Go isn't included in the following shootout, but I imagine it would score very well on the program-speed vs. code-size X-Y chart. http://blog.gmarceau.qc.ca/2009/05/speed-size-and-dependability-of.html http://blog.gmarceau.qc.ca/2009/05/speed-size-and-dependabil...
vjeux 15y ago
I've mistakenly understood the title: I though the language was being forked into two different ones ... Am I the only one?
- LeafStorm 15y ago
  You're probably not the only one, but "turns N" is a common idiom in English for "becomes N years old."

109 points by enneff 15y ago

Two is very young for a language. Scala is 8 years old and starting to gain a larger following. Having said that, does anyone on HN have a good story about using Go in production? Scala can be snuck in with Java. Go is going to be a little more difficult to get in the back door.

Detrus 15y ago
Go's major advantage is its cute mascot. At Google, Go seems to be competing with Python. http://www.quora.com/Which-is-easier-to-program-in-Python-or-Go http://www.quora.com/Which-is-easier-to-program-in-Python-or... Looks like for certain problems that don't need to interoperate with the larger system and don't need big library support, Go can sneak in.
krasin 15y ago
>does anyone on HN have a good story about using Go in production? http://tinkercad.com http://tinkercad.com http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/08/tinkercad-raises-1-million/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/08/tinkercad-raises-1-million/ (HN user kaib can say more)
- kaib 15y ago
  Krasin is right, most of the stuff on tinkercad.com is written in Go. There are a few inner loops that use C++ to get better SSE optimizations.
JonnieCache 15y ago
Heroku use it for their Doozer datastore which manages their distributed grid thingy. Info here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/05/google_go/print.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/05/google_go/print.html http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html http://xph.us/2011/04/13/introducing-doozer.html http://xph.us/2011/04/13/introducing-doozer.html And of course google use it internally.
jshen 15y ago
I like go because it has good concurrency and doesn't use a boatload of RAM like the JVM.
genbattle 15y ago
Go is possibly easier to get into production than something based on a hefty VM, because it compiles down into one relatively small executable (except for any dynamically linked libraries being used through cgo). If you've compiled a binary executable for the target platform all you have to do is put the executable on the production machine and run. No additional runtimes, no extra libraries or vm extensions. Everything you need is right there in that executable. I find this to be a big advantage for using Go over something like Python or Java. You still need any dynamically linked DLLs, but all the Go code itself and the runtime is statically compiled and linked into the executable produced by gc. As for the concerns about it not being used in production, there's Heroku: http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html http://blog.golang.org/2011/04/go-at-heroku.html All this is completely ignoring the fact that the language itself has a really nice syntax, and some excellent concurrency support. Nothing it does is particularly new, but I think Go is greater than the sum of its parts.
edsrzf 15y ago
I work at Iron.io[1]. Our new SimpleWorker API[2] is written in Go and we'll soon be releasing another service implemented with Go. [1] http://iron.io/ http://iron.io/ [2] http://blog.simpleworker.com/2011/11/simpleworker-has-shiny-new-gem-and.html http://blog.simpleworker.com/2011/11/simpleworker-has-shiny-...
luriel 15y ago
There are a surprising number of organizations using Go in production for such an extremely young and fast evolving language, and they all seem quite happy with it, including Canonical, Heroku, the Open Knowledge Foundation and others For an unofficial and incomplete list see: http://go-lang.cat-v.org/organizations-using-go http://go-lang.cat-v.org/organizations-using-go

dlsspy 15y ago

Wow, my memcached server in go is going to be two years old tomorrow. :)

luriel 15y ago
Fun fact: Brad Fitzpatrick, author of the original (in C) memcached is now part of the core Go team at Google. One thing he did was write this memcached client lib that is used for Go on AppEngine: https://github.com/bradfitz/gomemcache https://github.com/bradfitz/gomemcache But I'm not sure a new memcached server in Go is coming, I think he is more interested in his 'copious' spare time to hack on Camlistore: http://camlistore.org http://camlistore.org which is a really cool but a bit hard to describe project with lots of Go code.

bcowcher 15y ago

I've always wondered if Google would look at the possibility of making Go a supported language to use with Android.

tree_of_item 15y ago
Android and Native Client are two big areas that would help to give Go traction. If Google really cared about Go's adoption they would certainly talk about integration with these.
notatoad 15y ago
My understanding of go is that it was designed for highly parallelized tasks like servers. That doesnt really seem like a good fit for a handset os.
- melling 15y ago
  It has a small memory footprint which would be great on a mobile device. Also, the entire dev cycle would be much improved. The Java/Dalvik cycle with the emulator is slow.
  - luriel 15y ago
    Also the great concurrency model would be nice to handle the ever-growing number of inputs (and outputs) mobile apps have to deal with.
markokocic 15y ago
Google support for Go in their products seems half-hearted at most. Seems like only a few engineers in core Go team are working on it. AppEngine doesn't support Go (no, without windows Go SDK it is not supported). Android doesn't support native full featured Go apps, although in theory it seems like a perfect match. Given that lack of support, I'm not even sure it is as widely used inside Google, or the story about inside usage is just a marketing.
- 15y ago

joelthelion 15y ago

I've been using Go for the AI challenge, and it's been an awesome experience. I feel like I'm programming in Python (well, almost), but then I head to the forums and I see all these Python programmers discussing how to tweak their programs so that they don't time out. Mine runs in a few milliseconds with no particular effort. Thanks, Go!

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
rudiger 15y ago
Go isn't included in the following shootout, but I imagine it would score very well on the program-speed vs. code-size X-Y chart. http://blog.gmarceau.qc.ca/2009/05/speed-size-and-dependability-of.html http://blog.gmarceau.qc.ca/2009/05/speed-size-and-dependabil...

vjeux 15y ago

I've mistakenly understood the title: I though the language was being forked into two different ones ... Am I the only one?

LeafStorm 15y ago
You're probably not the only one, but "turns N" is a common idiom in English for "becomes N years old."