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For me Go is unique in that it can produce a fully static binary that can fetch from a HTTPS endpoint. It also supports many architectures. On top of that the p

For me Go is unique in that it can produce a fully static binary that can fetch from a HTTPS endpoint. It also supports many architectures. On top of that the package system and it's just way more convenient to use than other languages. Easy to learn, easy to put somewhere in practice. Not every program has to be 100% safe and delivering 2M req/s. Sometimes you just want to build a program once and ship it. What other language has that? Go isn't perfect though. It's startup sequence is long, the API towards C (and other languages) is quite bad, and if you build a fibonacci program and compare it with C it's 3x slower despite requiring no allocations whatsoever.

pjmlp 4y ago
Static linking predates dynamic linking by several decades, hardly unique.
- joshuak 4y ago
  Wait, what prior programming language is compiled, can be statically linked, and has an https implementation in it's standard library?
  - jolmg 4y ago
    fwsgonzo never said anything about it being in the standard library.
    - joshuak 4y ago
      Well that's not on him man. You are the one calling him out for being unaware of static linking, when you don't even seem to understand the full set of pros he listed in his first sentience.
      - jolmg 4y ago
        You're not replying to the same person. In a separate comment, I asked for a clarification on that specific part of their comment. The other pros, they're not part of what I asked about. In the comment I replied to you, I'm just stating that you're bringing up something that's not in discussion.
        joshuak 4y ago
        Sorry for the misattribution, my mistake. Nevertheless, the fact remains that https is a part of the standard library and one of the elements that the op finds unique about Go. It is unambiguously part of the conversation, and the ostensibly negative comment that focuses on static linking is missing the point. But I didn't even make the assumption that I was right on that understanding. I simply asked for more detail. Which was so that either I would learn something new, or the parent would.
        jolmg 4y ago
        > https is a part of the standard library and one of the elements that the op finds unique about Go. Where do they say that it being part of the standard library is unique? I don't even see the words "standard library" mentioned. EDIT: Look, this back and forth seems kind of pointless. This started with a statement about Go being unique for being able to be statically linked and talk HTTPS. If a language can be linked to compiled libraries, static or not, it's surely able to at least use libcurl, so I and the other commenter you replied to took it as Go is unique for being able to link statically. I assumed they meant, ignoring C/C++, static linking is rare, which I found interesting. I found other languages and asked for clarification. That's all.
        joshuak 4y ago
        I just addressed this question more directly on your other comment. I do not agree that it is incumbent upon a speaker to anticipate the listeners knowledge, so I do not think it is a reasonable expectation that every qualifier be included. It's simply not practical. But I do think this is an interesting conversation you bring up.
    - robotresearcher 4y ago
      The convenience of building network clients in Go is heavily implied. Strictly you can say that assembly code can make standalone binary HTTPS endpoints, but that would be a bit silly. To be sure you might write such a program in assembly, but you’d be doing it for fun or aesthetics. No engineering manager would commission such a thing. Though of course this is inviting the trading maniacs to tell stories of hyper optimized clients…
      - jolmg 4y ago
        Ok, but it's not either Go or assembly. There's other languages. I listed 6 in a close-by comment. I wonder if Go's much more convenient at network clients than, say, Haskell or Common Lisp.
      - erik_seaberg 4y ago
        HTTP doesn’t need to be in stdlib. Java and Python each had one but everyone long since switched to third-party reimplementations with better APIs. And HTTP will probably be replaced over the next twenty years, like FTP and Sun RPC and CORBA before it.
jolmg 4y ago
> For me Go is unique in that it can produce a fully static binary that can fetch from a HTTPS endpoint. What do you mean? C, C++, D, Rust, Haskell, and Common Lisp seem to be capable of static linking. (Admittedly Common Lisp seems to require a fork of SBCL that was written about last year, but still)
- cratermoon 4y ago
  > that can fetch from a HTTPS endpoint. Seems like a lot of replies are glossing over that clause. How many of those other languages can do that in a fully static binary that runs on (almost) any system that can read and launch that executable?
  - jolmg 4y ago
    It's glossed over because it's trivial, isn't it? Just statically link libcurl through a binding. And at least Haskell also has Haskell-implemented HTTP and TLS libraries. There's even options.
    - joshuak 4y ago
      Then why not assume it is the static linking that is trivial? Isolated each item is trivial in some context, its the exclusive set that is non-trivial, or at least uncommon. The fact https is included in the standard library means that you can give a new user a hello world tutorial that includes producing a web server. It's a huge boon to productivity in a programming language to have a default path for such libraries. I also work in C++, and it is infuriating the amount of time that must be spent sorting out the correct libraries for all the various aspects of an application one is not inclined to write themselves. People who don't fully grok the Go ecosystem overlook this cost when they claim that you can do the same thing in some other language. What they are missing in the subtext is the fundamental quality of life improvement.
      - jolmg 4y ago
        > Isolated each item is trivial in some context, its the exclusive set that is non-trivial, or at least uncommon. I'm not just taking it in isolation for no reason. If you have static linking, you basically have HTTPS by consequence. > The fact https is included in the standard library means that you can give a new user a hello world tutorial that includes producing a web server. It's a huge boon to productivity in a programming language to have a default path for such libraries. I think you're taking our discussion as if it were about if the language is cool or not. I never argued against that.
deleted 4y ago
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pjmlp 4y ago

Static linking predates dynamic linking by several decades, hardly unique.

joshuak 4y ago
Wait, what prior programming language is compiled, can be statically linked, and has an https implementation in it's standard library?
- jolmg 4y ago
  fwsgonzo never said anything about it being in the standard library.
  - joshuak 4y ago
    Well that's not on him man. You are the one calling him out for being unaware of static linking, when you don't even seem to understand the full set of pros he listed in his first sentience.
    - jolmg 4y ago
      You're not replying to the same person. In a separate comment, I asked for a clarification on that specific part of their comment. The other pros, they're not part of what I asked about. In the comment I replied to you, I'm just stating that you're bringing up something that's not in discussion.
      - joshuak 4y ago
        Sorry for the misattribution, my mistake. Nevertheless, the fact remains that https is a part of the standard library and one of the elements that the op finds unique about Go. It is unambiguously part of the conversation, and the ostensibly negative comment that focuses on static linking is missing the point. But I didn't even make the assumption that I was right on that understanding. I simply asked for more detail. Which was so that either I would learn something new, or the parent would.
        jolmg 4y ago
        > https is a part of the standard library and one of the elements that the op finds unique about Go. Where do they say that it being part of the standard library is unique? I don't even see the words "standard library" mentioned. EDIT: Look, this back and forth seems kind of pointless. This started with a statement about Go being unique for being able to be statically linked and talk HTTPS. If a language can be linked to compiled libraries, static or not, it's surely able to at least use libcurl, so I and the other commenter you replied to took it as Go is unique for being able to link statically. I assumed they meant, ignoring C/C++, static linking is rare, which I found interesting. I found other languages and asked for clarification. That's all.
        joshuak 4y ago
        I just addressed this question more directly on your other comment. I do not agree that it is incumbent upon a speaker to anticipate the listeners knowledge, so I do not think it is a reasonable expectation that every qualifier be included. It's simply not practical. But I do think this is an interesting conversation you bring up.
  - robotresearcher 4y ago
    The convenience of building network clients in Go is heavily implied. Strictly you can say that assembly code can make standalone binary HTTPS endpoints, but that would be a bit silly. To be sure you might write such a program in assembly, but you’d be doing it for fun or aesthetics. No engineering manager would commission such a thing. Though of course this is inviting the trading maniacs to tell stories of hyper optimized clients…
    - jolmg 4y ago
      Ok, but it's not either Go or assembly. There's other languages. I listed 6 in a close-by comment. I wonder if Go's much more convenient at network clients than, say, Haskell or Common Lisp.
    - erik_seaberg 4y ago
      HTTP doesn’t need to be in stdlib. Java and Python each had one but everyone long since switched to third-party reimplementations with better APIs. And HTTP will probably be replaced over the next twenty years, like FTP and Sun RPC and CORBA before it.

jolmg 4y ago

> For me Go is unique in that it can produce a fully static binary that can fetch from a HTTPS endpoint. What do you mean? C, C++, D, Rust, Haskell, and Common Lisp seem to be capable of static linking. (Admittedly Common Lisp seems to require a fork of SBCL that was written about last year, but still)

cratermoon 4y ago
> that can fetch from a HTTPS endpoint. Seems like a lot of replies are glossing over that clause. How many of those other languages can do that in a fully static binary that runs on (almost) any system that can read and launch that executable?
- jolmg 4y ago
  It's glossed over because it's trivial, isn't it? Just statically link libcurl through a binding. And at least Haskell also has Haskell-implemented HTTP and TLS libraries. There's even options.
  - joshuak 4y ago
    Then why not assume it is the static linking that is trivial? Isolated each item is trivial in some context, its the exclusive set that is non-trivial, or at least uncommon. The fact https is included in the standard library means that you can give a new user a hello world tutorial that includes producing a web server. It's a huge boon to productivity in a programming language to have a default path for such libraries. I also work in C++, and it is infuriating the amount of time that must be spent sorting out the correct libraries for all the various aspects of an application one is not inclined to write themselves. People who don't fully grok the Go ecosystem overlook this cost when they claim that you can do the same thing in some other language. What they are missing in the subtext is the fundamental quality of life improvement.
    - jolmg 4y ago
      > Isolated each item is trivial in some context, its the exclusive set that is non-trivial, or at least uncommon. I'm not just taking it in isolation for no reason. If you have static linking, you basically have HTTPS by consequence. > The fact https is included in the standard library means that you can give a new user a hello world tutorial that includes producing a web server. It's a huge boon to productivity in a programming language to have a default path for such libraries. I think you're taking our discussion as if it were about if the language is cool or not. I never argued against that.

deleted 4y ago

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