Between Go and Elixir | Hacker News Reader

Between Go and Elixir

preslav.me

8 pointspsxuaw8 comments

I've written code in both Elixir and Go and I would never choose Go. Elixir is not only a nicer programming language with better tooling, it also makes better use of system resources in most scenarios.

Go is much better and is actually still growing as a language. Elixir is declining already, it will barely exist in 5-10 years.

Source?

My common sense

Ah it's the second month Elixir broke into the top 50 languaes, yippi di peep! it's #48 between Haskell and Visual FoxPro lol. Yes definite a huge and growing community. https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/

Wow! What a great resource! I guess Go’s prospects aren’t so hot either—I really should focus on Classic Visual Basic, Matlab, and assembly because those are more popular than Go or Elixir! /s

I don’t think that index is measuring what you wish it were measuring. Based on your other comments on this site, I can tell you’ve got some beef with Elixir, which I find strange, seeing as you’ve never used it personally.[^1] As for my experience, I’ve had a plethora of job opportunities appear for myself and several of my friends who, in a matter of weeks, got hired on at different companies to write Elixir.

Is it as popular as Go? No. Is it still possible to find jobs in? Absolutely. Will learning Elixir make you a better programmer for your next language down the line? You bet. More so than Go, I guarantee.

Stop trying to scare earnest people who are curious. It’s a good language and working with it has been one of the most delightful experiences of my career. If you’ve had a negative experience with something like hiring for Elixir, be more measured, less dismissive, and more specific—you’ll have greater impact that way.

[^1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26905869

Go is a poorly-designed 70s throwback language that makes progress at a snails pace. How many years did it take the Go community to introduce functional dependency management and other tooling on par with Elixir's? Oh, that's right. They still haven't.

Between Go and Elixir = choose Go. At least you'll be able to get a job in 5 years.

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