Sorry, Ruby – I think I’ve fallen for Go

Like Python and Perl, what really makes Ruby fun is the library ecosystem. The libraries seem written to remove coding drudgery. When I look at Go, I see Java. The language and libraries require a lot of boilerplate to do simple things, e.g., parse a JSON file or a simple HTTP GET. Some of this is due to static typing, but it's still overly complex. Maybe the 3rd party Go libraries will evolve given enough time.

As a language, Go just seems like a step backward from Ruby or Python. I categorize it as a language for people who like to write code for code's sake. It does seem like a better Java or C.

I do love gofmt, and obviously the speed, but the killer features are built in cross compilation and the simplicity of deploying a Go app with Docker. Docker becomes a very slim container to hold your app -- think 1M (Scratch base) or 6 MB (Alpine) containers.