That's like saying C is not a system programming language because if you write a kernel you need to write parts of it in assembly, and you need to write parts o

That's like saying C is not a system programming language because if you write a kernel you need to write parts of it in assembly, and you need to write parts of libc in assembly as well! Parts of the runtime are written in C and assembly, but that's because there is power in breaking abstractions: http://research.swtch.com/goabstract http://research.swtch.com/goabstract As it stands today, Go can be used to write operating systems. Yes, you will have assembly, yes you will likely also have C, so what?