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Excellent success story with Go. Love this quote... "We also weren't sure if we would be able hire top talent if we chose Go, but we soon found out that we cou

Excellent success story with Go. Love this quote... "We also weren't sure if we would be able hire top talent if we chose Go, but we soon found out that we could get top talent because we chose Go."

GhotiFish 14y ago
That's really obvious but overlooked. Developers just looking for their paycheck will only have learnt the established languages. Developers who enjoy their profession will look to the future, excitement gleaming in their eyes. I've heard of business developing in Haskell a good amount of success. I suspect, for the same reason.
- jmilkbal 14y ago
  It could also be said that developers who use established languages are excited to get things done rather than reinvent wheels continuously.
  - thirsteh 14y ago
    No, it can't. People don't use only Java because they "just want to get things done." They use only Java because that's all they learned, and all they need for their day job. If not, then they will invariably step over languages that are very interesting but obscure.
    - jmilkbal 14y ago
      I'll give an anecdote. I've spent the last 7 years using Ada, a language that is /both/ interesting and obscure, almost exclusively. It's really a fantastic language that is frequently neglected much like poor Go, but with more merit. Anyway, in preparing the launch of my company's first iteration of its podcast network (http://76streetnetwork.com http://76streetnetwork.com), I absolutely wanted to use Ada, but the allure of the utterly fantastic tool support and breadth of libraries available for Java had me up and running in a day or two despite having never written anymore than basic hello world-like crap with it in the past. There's really nothing crazy about Java, you're right, but I live for coding and I have a deep interest in quality software development, but I guess I'm just looking for a paycheck for this side project that will never make me any money! Ironically, Ada is what pays my bills.
      - thirsteh 14y ago
        Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't use Java--just that "I've only ever used Java" is a pretty good indicator of somebody not being genuinely interested in software development, and different ways to do things. I'd take somebody who learned Ada for fun over somebody who learned Java in school (and did nothing else) for a Java job any day.
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zem 14y ago
the lisp community used to hold this as a truism - there are some languages so good (powerful, satisfying and pleasurable to work with) that they become a compelling reason to take a job regardless of the nature of the actual product.
gnuvince 14y ago
Yaron Minsky of Jane Street said pretty much the same thing about OCaml in one of his talks. And it makes sense. Go and OCaml are not mainstream, so the people who know these languages are likely interested in improving their own skillset, and it makes sense that they would be above average programmers. If they like the language enough, they would of course want to work with it rather than other languages.

Excellent success story with Go. Love this quote... "We also weren't sure if we would be able hire top talent if we chose Go, but we soon found out that we could get top talent because we chose Go."

GhotiFish 14y ago

That's really obvious but overlooked. Developers just looking for their paycheck will only have learnt the established languages. Developers who enjoy their profession will look to the future, excitement gleaming in their eyes. I've heard of business developing in Haskell a good amount of success. I suspect, for the same reason.

jmilkbal 14y ago
It could also be said that developers who use established languages are excited to get things done rather than reinvent wheels continuously.
- thirsteh 14y ago
  No, it can't. People don't use only Java because they "just want to get things done." They use only Java because that's all they learned, and all they need for their day job. If not, then they will invariably step over languages that are very interesting but obscure.
  - jmilkbal 14y ago
    I'll give an anecdote. I've spent the last 7 years using Ada, a language that is /both/ interesting and obscure, almost exclusively. It's really a fantastic language that is frequently neglected much like poor Go, but with more merit. Anyway, in preparing the launch of my company's first iteration of its podcast network (http://76streetnetwork.com http://76streetnetwork.com), I absolutely wanted to use Ada, but the allure of the utterly fantastic tool support and breadth of libraries available for Java had me up and running in a day or two despite having never written anymore than basic hello world-like crap with it in the past. There's really nothing crazy about Java, you're right, but I live for coding and I have a deep interest in quality software development, but I guess I'm just looking for a paycheck for this side project that will never make me any money! Ironically, Ada is what pays my bills.
    - thirsteh 14y ago
      Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't use Java--just that "I've only ever used Java" is a pretty good indicator of somebody not being genuinely interested in software development, and different ways to do things. I'd take somebody who learned Ada for fun over somebody who learned Java in school (and did nothing else) for a Java job any day.

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zem 14y ago

the lisp community used to hold this as a truism - there are some languages so good (powerful, satisfying and pleasurable to work with) that they become a compelling reason to take a job regardless of the nature of the actual product.

gnuvince 14y ago

Yaron Minsky of Jane Street said pretty much the same thing about OCaml in one of his talks. And it makes sense. Go and OCaml are not mainstream, so the people who know these languages are likely interested in improving their own skillset, and it makes sense that they would be above average programmers. If they like the language enough, they would of course want to work with it rather than other languages.