7 ms·

Awesome idea, because as we all know the choice of implementation language is absolutely crucial to the success of a startup.

gcr 13y ago
How much fun the founders have is directly related to the chance of the startup's success, and a person's ability to learn is directly related to their personal success. Sarcasm doesn't belong on HN.
- orangethirty 13y ago
  Well, I was having fun with Python and Lisp. But it was a bit painful between all of the different parts. Plus on the front end, I was writing mostly Django. Which has its own set of conventions. I like to keep things simple. And that made me move to Go. Its simple.
  - gcr 13y ago
    Exactly. You switched to Go because it rewarded you. Here you made an improvement that you liked, and you grew happier. Now, when you sit down to write, you'll be more likely to think "Wow, here I get to learn another piece of the Go ecosystem," which will probably drive you to continue working on your startup.
    - orangethirty 13y ago
      Yes, spot on. I already have all of the business side stuff done, and will now focus on the fun part. Its refreshing to be able to sit down and just code. I'm putting up a simple blog at nuuton.com/blog. I'll blog about my experience coding it. Keep posted.
    - TylerE 13y ago
      I think a huge part of go's success is the go command. For those of us coming from scripting language having the whole "configure/make/install" problem solved (and solved well) by the core language greatly lowers the barrier to entry.
      - orangethirty 13y ago
        Go acts like a scripting language, but runs like a compiled one. That's why I love it. The right mix of C and Python.
        gcr 13y ago
        That trait is shared by lots of languages though. Racket and some other lisps do exactly that. So does PyPy.
        TylerE 13y ago
        The difference is it's a true compilation. Most lisps will save like a data image that still needs to launch the runtime.
    - viscanti 13y ago
      So your point is that founder happiness is directly related to the startup's chance of success, which seems questionable, but possibly true. Then you define happiness as things that are good choices for the business. Of course doing things that are good for the business are good for the business. This is a bit of a circular definition. That said, choice of programming language is important. It's possible to be 10x to 100x more productive in one language (at least to start with), if it has libraries (included in the standard lib or community) that do most of the hard work for you. It's very easy to get started with a Python project, if your work at all uses Numpy/Scipy/ETC. The choice of programing language also is a big factor in what engineers you can hire in the future.
orangethirty 13y ago
I thought about COBOL, but then I realized I did not work at a bank.
aaronbrethorst 13y ago
If the stories are to be believed, the only reason we're having this conversation on this particular message board is because they actually do at times. http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html
pbreit 13y ago
It's definitely important. Not only can the language contribute to better development (however you want to define "better"), Go, in particular is attractive to engineers you might really want to hire.

gcr 13y ago

How much fun the founders have is directly related to the chance of the startup's success, and a person's ability to learn is directly related to their personal success. Sarcasm doesn't belong on HN.

orangethirty 13y ago
Well, I was having fun with Python and Lisp. But it was a bit painful between all of the different parts. Plus on the front end, I was writing mostly Django. Which has its own set of conventions. I like to keep things simple. And that made me move to Go. Its simple.
- gcr 13y ago
  Exactly. You switched to Go because it rewarded you. Here you made an improvement that you liked, and you grew happier. Now, when you sit down to write, you'll be more likely to think "Wow, here I get to learn another piece of the Go ecosystem," which will probably drive you to continue working on your startup.
  - orangethirty 13y ago
    Yes, spot on. I already have all of the business side stuff done, and will now focus on the fun part. Its refreshing to be able to sit down and just code. I'm putting up a simple blog at nuuton.com/blog. I'll blog about my experience coding it. Keep posted.
  - TylerE 13y ago
    I think a huge part of go's success is the go command. For those of us coming from scripting language having the whole "configure/make/install" problem solved (and solved well) by the core language greatly lowers the barrier to entry.
    - orangethirty 13y ago
      Go acts like a scripting language, but runs like a compiled one. That's why I love it. The right mix of C and Python.
      - gcr 13y ago
        That trait is shared by lots of languages though. Racket and some other lisps do exactly that. So does PyPy.
        TylerE 13y ago
        The difference is it's a true compilation. Most lisps will save like a data image that still needs to launch the runtime.
  - viscanti 13y ago
    So your point is that founder happiness is directly related to the startup's chance of success, which seems questionable, but possibly true. Then you define happiness as things that are good choices for the business. Of course doing things that are good for the business are good for the business. This is a bit of a circular definition. That said, choice of programming language is important. It's possible to be 10x to 100x more productive in one language (at least to start with), if it has libraries (included in the standard lib or community) that do most of the hard work for you. It's very easy to get started with a Python project, if your work at all uses Numpy/Scipy/ETC. The choice of programing language also is a big factor in what engineers you can hire in the future.

orangethirty 13y ago

I thought about COBOL, but then I realized I did not work at a bank.

aaronbrethorst 13y ago

If the stories are to be believed, the only reason we're having this conversation on this particular message board is because they actually do at times. http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html

pbreit 13y ago

It's definitely important. Not only can the language contribute to better development (however you want to define "better"), Go, in particular is attractive to engineers you might really want to hire.