I think there is a better explanation for why people dislike Go. All programming languages currently used for the web have gigantic downsides. They're slow. They have terrible package management. They have poor standard libraries. They have no static typing. They have no visual debuggers. They have no good IDE support. They don't integrate well with frontend code. Some programming languages are more flawed than others, and no programming language fails on every front, but they're all pretty objectively terrible.
Then Google announces Go. A cross-platform systems programming languages for high quality web services. That sounds great! I can't wait to see what Google came up with.
So when people saw Go disappointment set in. It has some great properties, but the language is not expressive. So Go web frameworks (like Revel) generate Go code at compile time to get the dynamic parts working. Just like we did in the 70s to work around C's shortcomings. Want a container for a specific type? Code generation! It's so clumsy. The lack of exceptions makes writing correct code really tedious. A web service is not a device driver where every edge case has to be carefully considered. Bailing out with an exception is fine. Go disagrees.
I think the disappointment in what Go could have been explains the vocal dislike. There are only a few companies in the world that can create a new programming language and ensure it becomes popular. Don't get me wrong. Go isn't a bad language. It's just not the language that will push the web forward, and Google was in a unique position to create a programming language that would.
Then Google announces Go. A cross-platform systems programming languages for high quality web services. That sounds great! I can't wait to see what Google came up with.
So when people saw Go disappointment set in. It has some great properties, but the language is not expressive. So Go web frameworks (like Revel) generate Go code at compile time to get the dynamic parts working. Just like we did in the 70s to work around C's shortcomings. Want a container for a specific type? Code generation! It's so clumsy. The lack of exceptions makes writing correct code really tedious. A web service is not a device driver where every edge case has to be carefully considered. Bailing out with an exception is fine. Go disagrees.
I think the disappointment in what Go could have been explains the vocal dislike. There are only a few companies in the world that can create a new programming language and ensure it becomes popular. Don't get me wrong. Go isn't a bad language. It's just not the language that will push the web forward, and Google was in a unique position to create a programming language that would.