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Toward Go 2

blog.golang.org

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Re: Toward Go 2

#11

Post by tomovo »

tomovo wrote: post #9
fusiongyro wrote: post #2

The paragraph I was looking for is this: > For example, I've been examining generics recently, but I don't have in my mind a clear picture of the detailed, concrete problems that Go users need generics to solve. As a result, I can't answer a design question like whether to support generic methods, which is to say methods that are parameterized separately from the receiver. If we had a large set of real-world use case…

Go 2, codename "Hell with generics". Just kidding of course. I am sure some useful form of generics will eventually find its way in.

More importantly though, looking at C++ I think it may be hard to come up with a generics system that doesn't lend itself to abuse and ridiculous mega constructs. I would love to see something that provides power in ways that disallow craziness (Boost Spirit kind) but provide enough power to avoid all the cases that suffer without generics.

Re: Toward Go 2

#12

Post by eropple »

Analemma_ wrote: post #8

> For example, I've been examining generics recently, but I don't have in my mind a clear picture of the detailed, concrete problems that Go users need generics to solve. This is sampling bias at work. The people who need generics have long since given up on Go and no longer even bother participating in Go-related discussions, because they've believe it will never happen. Meanwhile, if you're still using Go, you must…

> no longer even bother participating in Go-related discussions, because they've believe it will never happen

/raises hand

I like when tools are good, but I've basically written off Go as a tool for generating unsustainable code right now (and a big part of it is the odious options, either type-unsafety or code generation, for things that are trivially handled by parametricity). If things change, I'll be happy to revisit it, but the described thought process just ignores my existence. And that's fine from my perspective, because I don't need Go, but I'd still like it to be better in case I do need to use it.

Re: Toward Go 2

#13

Post by munificent »

zerr wrote: post #7
fusiongyro wrote: post #2

The paragraph I was looking for is this: > For example, I've been examining generics recently, but I don't have in my mind a clear picture of the detailed, concrete problems that Go users need generics to solve. As a result, I can't answer a design question like whether to support generic methods, which is to say methods that are parameterized separately from the receiver. If we had a large set of real-world use case…

They should look up the usage of empty interfaces [in the wild or in-house].

This is a great point. Other analysis one could do:

1. Look at uses of cast operators in a codebase. How many of those would be eliminated by making the surrounding operation generic?

2. Go through the language spec and see how many features could be moved out of the language and into the core library if generics were supported.

Re: Toward Go 2

#14

Post by eropple »

tomovo wrote: post #11
tomovo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go 2, codename "Hell with generics". Just kidding of course. I am sure some useful form of generics will eventually find its way in.

More importantly though, looking at C++ I think it may be hard to come up with a generics system that doesn't lend itself to abuse and ridiculous mega constructs. I would love to see something that provides power in ways that disallow craziness (Boost Spirit kind) but provide enough power to avoid all the cases that suffer without generics.

Both C# and Java have taken different approaches to constrained generics that are still really useful for about...I dunno, the 90% case (C# has reified generics and so it's more like 95%, but type erasure also has its pluses when you're off-roading around in a framework somewhere). Scala goes a little further and covers, like, the 99% case, and plenty of inadvisable ones too.

Re: Toward Go 2

#15

Post by JepZ »

I know there is a lot of discussion about generics, but I am not sure if that is missing the point. I mean 'generics' sounds like a complex concept from the java development and I am uncertain if that's really what we need in go.

From my experience I think we should talk about container formats because they make 80% of what we would like to have generics for. Actually, go feels as if it has only two container data structures: Slices and Maps. And both feel as if they are pretty hard coded into the language.

Yes, I am sure there are more container formats and it is possible to build your own, but I think it is not easy enough.

Re: Toward Go 2

#16

Post by wheaties »

fusiongyro wrote: post #2

The paragraph I was looking for is this: > For example, I've been examining generics recently, but I don't have in my mind a clear picture of the detailed, concrete problems that Go users need generics to solve. As a result, I can't answer a design question like whether to support generic methods, which is to say methods that are parameterized separately from the receiver. If we had a large set of real-world use case…

If they want to "learn" about generics perhaps they can read the literature of the past 30yrs and look at how other languages have adopted those learnings: Java, C#, Haskell, OCaml and Coq.

Look, even allowing type aliases to become part of an interface declaration would be a HUGE win. You can't currently write portable arbitrary data structures without reimplementing them with a code generator. Ugh!

Re: Toward Go 2

#17

Post by xfer »

Analemma_ wrote: post #8

> For example, I've been examining generics recently, but I don't have in my mind a clear picture of the detailed, concrete problems that Go users need generics to solve. This is sampling bias at work. The people who need generics have long since given up on Go and no longer even bother participating in Go-related discussions, because they've believe it will never happen. Meanwhile, if you're still using Go, you must…

Yes, using empty interfaces and adding common data structures to the runtime eliminate the primary use-case of generics. Who would have thought..

Re: Toward Go 2

#18

Post by solomatov »

fusiongyro wrote: post #2

The paragraph I was looking for is this: > For example, I've been examining generics recently, but I don't have in my mind a clear picture of the detailed, concrete problems that Go users need generics to solve. As a result, I can't answer a design question like whether to support generic methods, which is to say methods that are parameterized separately from the receiver. If we had a large set of real-world use case…

I would start using Go in my projects if it introduces generics. It's a show stopper for me.

Re: Toward Go 2

#20

Post by xienze »

fusiongyro wrote: post #2

The paragraph I was looking for is this: > For example, I've been examining generics recently, but I don't have in my mind a clear picture of the detailed, concrete problems that Go users need generics to solve. As a result, I can't answer a design question like whether to support generic methods, which is to say methods that are parameterized separately from the receiver. If we had a large set of real-world use case…

> This is a much more nuanced position than the Go team has expressed in the past, which amounted to "fuck generics," but it puts the onus on the community to come up with a set of scenarios where generics could solve significant issues.

Nah, this is pretty much the same answer they've been giving all along, lots of handwaving about how generics are so cutting edge that no one can figure out how to use them effectively yet ("we just can't wrap our heads around this crazy idea!")

In other words, don't count on them in Go 2.

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