For starters it relies on implicit zero values in the language. These are dangerous from a modelling perspective: if you have a 0 integer, or an empty string, y

For starters it relies on implicit zero values in the language. These are dangerous from a modelling perspective: if you have a 0 integer, or an empty string, you can't really be sure if that's a meaningful value or merely a default. This is a bigger problem than just error handling. It makes it all too easy for invalid data to slip into your system. Implicit zero values are a bad design decision that cause all sorts of other pain. Consider the behavior of sends and receives on nil channels [1]. This is a fundamentally nonsense operation, but Go's designers are forced to define a behavior because nil channels can exist thanks to implicit zero values. [1]: https://dave.cheney.net/2014/03/19/channel-axioms https://dave.cheney.net/2014/03/19/channel-axioms