I find it unforgivable for a language in 2012 to repeat decades old design mistakes, and for no apparent benefit.
What's worse is that it appears this was all done out of ignorance, not conscious choice.
What's worse is that it appears this was all done out of ignorance, not conscious choice.
As far as I know, these guys have a reputation in industry moreso than in academic circles. It seems entirely believable that they have taken no interest in language design outside of industry, where the state of the art lags a few decades behind that of academia.
Consider all the error-checks in Go -- these are all incorrect from a boolean-blindness perspective, and that would be a lot of code to rewrite if they add proper constructs to Go. Thus, I really believe it is just a mistake -- one that is only possible to make out of ignorance.