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Will Go give Java a run for its money?

12 points by ishener 12y ago

VeejayRampay 12y ago
Too soon to really tell, but from a diversity point of view, the rise of Go is a good thing.
levosmetalo 12y ago
No, it will not. The big selling point of Java is its tooling. As much as some developers despise big IDEs like Intelij IDAEA or Eclipse, they are what is important to big customers. As much as I would like Go as a language compared to Java, I would still prefer to use Java for any non trivial project just because of tooling. Easy access to refactoring features offered by major IDEs, or test coverage tools, or CI will mean that I can safely change existing huge codebase much faster that equivalent Go source. That makes Java code to age much better, and prevents code bitrot if used wisely.
- efsavage 12y ago
  I agree, but can Go the language eventually support the level of tooling that Java has?
  - JetSpiegel 12y ago
    But who will write all those tools?
- zik 12y ago
  Have you seen the Go plugin for IntelliJ IDE? It's not as complete as their Java support yet but it's already pretty impressive.
- wlievens 12y ago
  Tooling and libraries/frameworks just as much.
- pkroll 12y ago
  The key word there is "is." When Java was at the same point in its life as Go, the big selling point wasn't tooling. Tooling came along with the success.
  - levosmetalo 12y ago
    I wouldn't say so, when Java was 5 years old there was Forte4j, Netbeans and VisualAge for Java and Eclipse 1.0 [1]. All of them offered superior tooling to then major language as C and C++. People wanted nice IDEs, and majority didn't want Emacs and Vi(m). And Java was already in top 3 language. Go is nowhere near Java's success, even considering its age. If Google didn't bother to provide a great IDE support so far, and is not pushing for Go in a way Apple was pushing for Objective C, there's no evidence that it won't end up as just yet another abandonware from Google. [1] Writing from memory, so might be wrong.
addykapurhn 12y ago
Go has a long way to go before it can challenge Java
- PaulRobinson 12y ago
  Go has a long way to go before it can challenge almost any modern language. Its community is focused and evangelical but is very small.
th3iedkid 12y ago
Architectures like JEE that offer very good patterns for big,complex projects to manage performance,ease of development and maintenance.The day GO can all of that , may be then..... There are reasons for most big financial firms to prefer java over other languages....

12 points by ishener 12y ago

Too soon to really tell, but from a diversity point of view, the rise of Go is a good thing.

No, it will not. The big selling point of Java is its tooling. As much as some developers despise big IDEs like Intelij IDAEA or Eclipse, they are what is important to big customers. As much as I would like Go as a language compared to Java, I would still prefer to use Java for any non trivial project just because of tooling. Easy access to refactoring features offered by major IDEs, or test coverage tools, or CI will mean that I can safely change existing huge codebase much faster that equivalent Go source. That makes Java code to age much better, and prevents code bitrot if used wisely.

efsavage 12y ago
I agree, but can Go the language eventually support the level of tooling that Java has?
- JetSpiegel 12y ago
  But who will write all those tools?
zik 12y ago
Have you seen the Go plugin for IntelliJ IDE? It's not as complete as their Java support yet but it's already pretty impressive.
wlievens 12y ago
Tooling and libraries/frameworks just as much.
pkroll 12y ago
The key word there is "is." When Java was at the same point in its life as Go, the big selling point wasn't tooling. Tooling came along with the success.
- levosmetalo 12y ago
  I wouldn't say so, when Java was 5 years old there was Forte4j, Netbeans and VisualAge for Java and Eclipse 1.0 [1]. All of them offered superior tooling to then major language as C and C++. People wanted nice IDEs, and majority didn't want Emacs and Vi(m). And Java was already in top 3 language. Go is nowhere near Java's success, even considering its age. If Google didn't bother to provide a great IDE support so far, and is not pushing for Go in a way Apple was pushing for Objective C, there's no evidence that it won't end up as just yet another abandonware from Google. [1] Writing from memory, so might be wrong.

addykapurhn 12y ago

Go has a long way to go before it can challenge Java

PaulRobinson 12y ago
Go has a long way to go before it can challenge almost any modern language. Its community is focused and evangelical but is very small.

th3iedkid 12y ago

Architectures like JEE that offer very good patterns for big,complex projects to manage performance,ease of development and maintenance.The day GO can all of that , may be then..... There are reasons for most big financial firms to prefer java over other languages....