So Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) recently announced the creation of a new computer language called Go. Most would ask the question, "Do we really need ANOTHER programming language?"
Google's short answer is "yes." Understanding the reason for the new language provides a good insight into what drives the Google machine -- an incessant passion to make everything they do go faster.
Go has a very well defined set of design goals including concurrency, garbage collection, and fast compilation and execution time. The creators of the language come with pretty weighty resumés. While at Bell Labs , Ken Thompson was the coauthor of the "C" programming language and the original Unix operating system along with Dennis Ritchie. Rob Pike is another Bell Labs alum and has "Plan 9 operating system architect" on his curriculum vitae.
Concurrency is a big deal when you're trying to do lots of things at the same time. Go provides a way to write modules, which they call "goroutines," and have them execute on multiple application threads automatically. Garbage collection is the process whereby computer memory is allocated and de-allocated on the fly. Many modern computer languages support this concept.
The Google Go team describes the language on their blog as follows: "Go combines the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++. Typical builds feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C."
Leaning on languages like Python and C/C++ makes a lot of sense when you look at what Google does. With experienced folk on staff, including the inventor of the Python language, Guido van Rossum, they can leverage the productivity and wealth of applications written in Python. Google's App Engine uses Python for its primary language and could benefit from the speed and concurrency features of Go.
The C/C++ heritage brings static typing and a whole generation of systems-level programmers schooled in writing complex software in those languages. While Go borrows from these languages, it also introduces new concepts and shortcuts to make building things like a Web server faster and more efficient. At the end of the day, as a programmer you should be able to pick up the language pretty quickly regardless of your background.
You'll need either a Linux or Mac machine if you want to play around with Go. Supported CPU architectures include amd64 (listed as the most mature), 386 (basically all Intel 32-bit processors), and ARM (Android phones and others). Go is definitely in the infant stage although some of the demonstration programs seem to work quite well.
Google has posted a good amount of information on the main Go site including a tutorial, a video presentation by Rob Pike along with a PDF of his slides, instructions on how to get the compiler installed, and some examples. Go has garnered a lot of attention in the short amount of time since it went public and will obviously get more in the days to come.
I see nothing in Go that is not in C#/.NET, and C#/.NET is available in a non MS context if you want it. And Java with OSGi and so forth is far from out of the picture either.
I think we see where Google wants to Go. They have a simple business model- not B2B or P2P. Google wants G2everything. In a G2E world, there will be very limited space for partners and innovation.
I'm sure there are hundreds of unknown programming languages and each one has it's advantage over the know ones... it happens with everything. Basically all the standards I know are worse than the other option.
If you look at the Go FAQ it answers a number of the questions that you've posed. Probably the biggest single reason from the FAQ is:
"The Go project was conceived to make it easier to write the kind of servers and other software Google uses internally, but the implementation isn't quite mature enough yet for large-scale production use."
Simple is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. If you think about the problems that Go is out to solve - namely concurrent systems-level programs, you narrow the list of potential users. Having gone through the tutorials it looks like it would be most appealing to a Python programmer looking for a compiled language to make things run fast.
As to GUI IDEs there aren't any at the moment. It's a pretty safe bet to assume that there will be some kind of support in Eclipse but that's pure speculation on my part. For now your pretty much stuck with the old fashioned way of edit, compile and run.
I'm not a computer scientist nor a programmer, but I think we should welcome any inovation with open arm. Google guys might have good reasons to develop this new language. I don't think that they will just spend their money and time on something that will not be useful.
Hounhosp I cant agree with you more on that. Google is fast becoming anarchy, an empire where anything non google is bad and useless. The available programming languages are working fine, the new language is a mere old wine in a new “google” labeled bottle
"Go has garnered a lot of attention in the short amount of time since it went public and will obviously get more in the days to come."
This is the first time I hear about it and I'm sure it is the same thing with many persons. Is it a scripting lanaguage like python or a general purpose language like C++? I hope the reason behind the development of such language is not just a way for Google guys to "boost" their ego. I would like to know for example what GO can do and other languages such as C++, Java, C#, Python ... cannot do?
With the combined features of reliable languages like Python and C, Go does seem very powerful. However, I am concerned about syntax issues and whether it will be easy to learn it. I feel Google should aim to keep the syntax as minimal and as easy as possible. This is very important if they want programmers to start using it. From a simple "hello world" example of Go that I saw, it does not seem that simple.
Secondly, will google also provide a GUI based development environment for it? If Google plans to compete with existing established development platforms such as Java and Visual Studio, it should also focus on having an integrated development environment.
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