Because you only need a browser. When you're just a beginner, setting up an environment can be extremely painful.
Besides, everyone in a CS program these days gets a shell account, right? I mean, login from home using whatever SSH client is hip on Windows these days and then it's just a matter of doing:
javac YOURFILE
java YOURFILE
No complex environment to set up at all, although even setting up a Java IDE is not that hard (my friend's HS students do it with little problem).
Besides, you don't need an IDE for Java, it's just that most people use one. I personally use gradle and vim when progamming Java.
GOROOT and GOPATH are set automatically by default, you don't need to mess with these unless you want to.
> I think it's about the same as Java in terms of complexity.
Even if GOPATH/etc weren't set automatically, you still need to learn Maven and Gradle and friends. I've been programming for a decade or so, and every time I try to play with Java I have such a hard time getting projects set up. I don't know if the tooling is really so complex or if the happy path is just poorly documented (perhaps because everyone assumes you're using an IDE?). A few things I had trouble with: - Getting the Gradle server set up so I didn't have to wait for the JVM to boot every time I wanted to compile anything - Configuring Gradle to compile a native dependency like OpenGL - Configuring Gradle to produce a fat jar - Configuring Gradle for unit testing
By comparison, with Go does all of that out of the box (`go build` doesn't have a VM to warm up, and Go's tooling supports native dependencies, static compilation, and testing by default).
I don't think this is a big problem if you already understand Java's ecosystem or if you have someone to hold your hand until you get a project set up, but I had a terrible time finding the right documentation.
> Besides, you don't need an IDE for Java, it's just that most people use one. I personally use gradle and vim when progamming Java.
Last I checked (a year or so ago), there were no reasonable vim plugins for Java. Certainly nothing as mature as vim-go.
Where is the mkdir icon on my windows desktop?
I bet they don't, though :/
Of course your conclusion that IDEs are more somehow productive than text editors is completely baseless (or perhaps only based on experience with Java and the like).
There are two possible reasons for this I can see:
1. Go is so awesome that unlike any other language I've used in my multi-decade carrier, it can not be improved with an IDE. It's just an ideal and any attempted improvement would just spoil it.
2. There's no decent IDEs for Go and Go developers are forced to do with what they've got.
My experience shows the former is much more probable than the latter.
> Developing Go without an IDE is quite feasible
Of course, people programmed when ed was an IDE, and before that. It's humanly possible. Is it better? I highly doubt it.
> The particularities of IDEs which make them more productive than text editors are artifacts of the poor project system found in most languages
I'm sorry but this statement sounds both misinformed and fanboyish. There are tons of benefits to IDE which have nothing to do with "poor project system" - from module management to task management to refactoring to keeping integrated information about the project to code assist, etc., etc. I could spend an hour writing them. Claiming that Go "fixed" need for IDE sounds, excuse me for being blunt, laughable. It's like when iPhone was first released, I heard some fanboy claim that iPhone interface is so intuitive one doesn't need copy-paste (first version didn't have it). Of course, next update added copy-paste and iPhone users (including the said fanboy) are happily using it ever since.
> or perhaps only based on experience with Java and the like
Yes, it is based on almost 30 years of experience with programming in multitude of languages and environments, and this experience is why I find claims that Go is so awesome it needs no IDE so laughable. I'm sorry to look self-aggrandizing here, but you asked about it so I have to say it I guess.
Fanboyish? Quite a statement from someone arguing that IDEs are necessary--my position is that they're optional. Misinformed? The features you list aren't particular to an IDE--they're available in any pluggable editor, which is a repackaging of my point. I don't mind a rude rebuke, but you're not even vaguely correct. Forgive me for basing my decisions off experience and not your misinformed speculation. ;)
Javascript might have its hassles, but even when you get to dealing with npm it's still more of a self contained thing.
But if you're introducing people to programming, letting them know command line exists may also be not that bad of an idea :)