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randomdata11/09/20242 repliesview on HN

> The purpose of a programming language is literal instruction for a machine.

Toggle switches are for giving instructions to a machine. Programming languages are a higher level abstraction over the toggle switches so that the intent of the toggling can be communicated with other people. You don't just write code, run it through the machine, and then throw it away. Other people, and probably even yourself, will read what was written again and again and again. The language is very much for people first and foremost, with the side effect of also being understandable by machine.

> I think it is just a bad language.

It is – nobody is suggesting otherwise – but you didn't answer the question. Are you writing Go with Go syntax, or another language with Go syntax? Perhaps the best way to answer, if it is that you just didn't know how, is to post some sample code that you find to be obnoxious and tedious and we can see if it is that way because of Go, or if it is because you are trying to use patterns from other languages that don't fit the language.


Replies

mikeschinkel11/10/2024

In all your comments you seem to be hitting the nail on the head.

Someone can say the German language is a bad language. But it is not the language that is bad, it is the person's perception.

When they try to evaluate German while thinking in English it is no surprise they consider it sub-standard. Germans, OTOH, are much better equipped to evaluate the German language than those who only know how to think in English.

(Full disclosure; my grandfather was German but I only know how to think in English.)

devmor11/11/2024

Writing questions and suggesting someone else’s answer for them from an imagined situation is not useful or pleasant discussion. Please refrain from doing that.

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