On: Programming Language Memory Models

[skohan]

I'm sorry is this comment from 1998? I've been working in software for over a decade, and I haven't seen server work being done in Java in ages.

From my perspective, Go in the context of serverless programming seems to currently be the best choice for server-side programming.

In the next 20 years I expect Go will be supplanted by a language which is a lot like go (automatic memory management, simple, easy to learn & write and performant enough) but with the addition of algebraic data types, named parameters, and a slightly higher level of abstraction.

[valbaca → skohan]

> In the next 20 years I expect Go will be supplanted by a language which is a lot like go (automatic memory management, simple, easy to learn & write and performant enough) but with the addition of algebraic data types, named parameters, and a slightly higher level of abstraction.

I'd love for this to be Crystal: https://crystal-lang.org/

> I haven't seen server work being done in Java in ages.

In the meantime, I've been doing a large amount of Java backend server work for the past 10 years.

[skohan → valbaca]

I have a feeling it's going to have C-like syntax and frankly I hope so because using an `end` keyword instead of braces makes no sense to me.

[filleduchaos → skohan]

Arguably using curly braces to delineate blocks makes no inherent sense either. We just do it because that's what everybody else does.

[skohan → filleduchaos]

So if I can give my extremely pedantic rebuff: `end` is 3 characters rather than two with `{}` - that's objectively more work to type, and it makes your programs take more space on disk.

Also it's dead simple to write parsers and developer tools which can match open and close braces. Handling `end` with an arbitrary opening token (maybe it's `if <...>`, `while <...>` what have you) is objectively more work for your CPU to work with.

Subjectively, it looks dumb to have code which looks like this:

            end
          end
        end
      end
    end
  end

[bullen → skohan]

Infinite growth does not exist, everything peaks at some point. You have to wonder if a memory model from 2005 still kicks go's ass in 2021 how your your prediction that "there will always be something new and shiny to distract us from the focus we need to leverage the real value of the internet" will play out?

What have you built with go that is interesting?

[skohan → bullen]

It's not about new and shiny. Programming is still a relatively new field when compared to other fields. For instance, mathematics and physics took centuries to land on the right way to formalize things.

C is maybe the only good programming language invented so far. Java was a failed attempt at improving C. I think we're rapidly converging on the second good programming language, and it's not going to have null pointer exceptions.

[pjmlp → skohan]

And I haven't seen server work done in C++ since 2006, we keep replacing those systems with Java and .NET ones.

To each its own.

[deterministic → pjmlp]

I have seen new server work being done in C++ every year the last 10 years. So yes we all have different experiences.