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Go 1.4 is released

blog.golang.org

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Re: Go 1.4 is released

#2
> The most notable new feature in this release is official support for Android. Using the support in the core and the libraries in the golang.org/x/mobile repository, it is now possible to write simple Android apps using only Go code.

This is fantastic! Are there any example Android apps released by the Go team to help get started ?

Re: Go 1.4 is released

#3

> The most notable new feature in this release is official support for Android. Using the support in the core and the libraries in the golang.org/x/mobile repository, it is now possible to write simple Android apps using only Go code. This is fantastic! Are there any example Android apps released by the Go team to help get started ?

https://github.com/golang/mobile/tree/master/example

Re: Go 1.4 is released

#6

> The most notable new feature in this release is official support for Android. Using the support in the core and the libraries in the golang.org/x/mobile repository, it is now possible to write simple Android apps using only Go code. This is fantastic! Are there any example Android apps released by the Go team to help get started ?

And now things just got interesting. I'll put my money on the availability of Go on Android being the catalyst for its future hockey stick growth.

Re: Go 1.4 is released

#7
post #5

Can someone give me a compelling reason to start programming in Go? My default language at the moment is C, or C++.

You can also add numbers on an abacus. It _works_.

Put in a less snarky way, C is often way more low-level and tedious than you need.

The great thing about Go is that it lets you blend high-level and low-level programming in the same program, only getting low when you need to. It feels like a great mix of C and Pythonubyerlhphavascript.

I've given many talks on this, e.g. http://talks.golang.org/2014/gocon-tokyo.slide#1

Re: Go 1.4 is released

#8
post #5

Can someone give me a compelling reason to start programming in Go? My default language at the moment is C, or C++.

Not having to use Java on Android. This is a major reason.

(it's going to interesting to see battery life of not running an interpreted language on small devices like Android Wear).

Re: Go 1.4 is released

#9
post #5

Can someone give me a compelling reason to start programming in Go? My default language at the moment is C, or C++.

For Go, I don't think what you need is a compelling reason from someone else. One compelling reason to one is not necessarily compelling to others.

Instead, since Go is a very simple language with very easy learning curve, I encourage you to spend a weekend to check it out. Pick a side project and do it in Go, then you will know if it's the language for you.

I would even argue that the joy of writing Go would be magnified by working as a team and the joy of reading Go would be demonstrated by exploring any Go project from any team. But I would not go that far for a Go novice who just want to check it out

Re: Go 1.4 is released

#10
post #5

Can someone give me a compelling reason to start programming in Go? My default language at the moment is C, or C++.

Once Go is installed, I can make a simple web app from scratch that displays parameters from the URL or request body in just over 95 seconds with Go, using only the standard library. I can cross-compile it for another OS and architecture, then deploy a single binary file without worrying about dependencies, dynamic linking, or segfaults.

Try doing that in C/C++.

Maybe a better comparison is to more systems-level applications like you might code up in C. The same benefits carry over to those, without a significant performance hit (usually).

(And to be fair, sometimes C/C++ is the better tool for the job. But give it a shot; Go is pretty handy when you don't need to drop down to lots of unsafe memory and CPU operations.)

By the way, your existing C skills will be very useful in Go. For example, struct fields will still be padded unless you pack them carefully. Your experience with buffers, streams, memory allocation, and data structures will definitely not be wasted in Go.

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