Actually the Effective Go page needs to get updated. They also comment next to c <- 1 that value does not matter where the use of a struct{} channel would be mo

Actually the Effective Go page needs to get updated. They also comment next to c <- 1 that value does not matter where the use of a struct{} channel would be more idiomatic. But still the Go mantra is valid, the means (channels) provided by the language allow for sharing by communicating and IT IS actually considered idiomatic where appropriate. Also your points about exceptions and generics are non-valid or at least very specific cases. I am working on backend stuff (mostly command-line tools) and i never felt any "lack" of them.