What's this

This repository is a list of articles that complain about golang's imperfection.

Motivation

Seems like complaining about go's flaws is becoming a trend. Any newbie must have a chance to read all the go-is-bad arguments before they go too far. So here it is.

What it's for

This repo is not aimed to offend or insult someone (at least not more than each author does it in its article), especially golang itself, its authors and the community. It is for educational purpose only. Any contributor can have an absolutely different point of view.

I don't think anyone would deny that go has weaknesses: it certainly has. But how do you know, is it really a language design flaw or is it just you, doing something completely wrong? This list here to help you quickly answer the question.

How to use it

You're writing some code. And suddenly you understand you need something that language can't give you. You go here and check if you're the one with that issue or not. If it's a common issue, it'll be here. Then you decide what to do: choose another tool for your task or go find a better solution or a workaround.

The List

• https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given, 2009)
  • c-style
  • poor design
  • no constructors
  • no user-type iteration
  • new and make instead of one
  • stuck in 70's
  • no OOP
  • too simple / lack of syntactic sugar
• https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis, 2010)
  • no language interoperability (only C)
  • no versioning model
  • no OOP
  • has pointers
  • no semicolons at line endings
  • no this
  • no function/operator overloading
  • no exceptions
• https://uberpython.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/why-im-not-leaving-python-for-go/ (Yuval Greenfield, 2012)
  • error handling
  • stuck in 70's
  • panic instead of exceptions
• http://www.darkcoding.net/software/go-lang-after-four-months/ (Graham King, 2012)
  • un-googlable name
  • stuck in 70's
  • no exceptions
  • is compiled
  • too young
• http://jozefg.bitbucket.org/posts/2013-08-23-leaving-go.html (Danny Gratzer, 2013)
  • no generics
  • hard to extend
• http://magicmakerman.blogspot.ru/2013/07/why-googles-go-programming-language.html (Magic Maker Man, 2013)
  • no OOP
  • no asserts
  • has pointers
  • weird mascot (gopher)
• http://corte.si/posts/code/go/go-rant.html (Aldo Cortesi, 2013)
  • too opinionated
• http://how-bazaar.blogspot.ru/2013/04/the-go-language-my-thoughts.html (Tim Penhey, 2013)
  • error handling
  • inconvenient range
  • no generics
• http://yager.io/programming/go.html (Will Yager, 2014)
  • no generics
  • no function/operator overloading
  • nil as a failure marker
  • type inference is too simple
  • no immutables
  • no pattern matching
• http://blog.mattbasta.com/things_that_make_me_sad_in_go.html (Matt Basta, 2014)
  • project layout is bad
  • can't import packages relatively
  • different build approaches
  • no sugar for slices
  • lack of basic data structures
• https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman, 2014)
  • no decent IDE
  • GOPATH is a mess
  • pointers are a mess
  • upper-case/lower-case scoping is bad
  • hidden types
  • immature GC
  • hard to extend
  • no exceptions
  • no generics
  • bad dependency management
• https://www.upguard.com/blog/our-experience-with-golang (Mark Sheahan, 2014)
  • no decent IDE
  • error handling
  • unexpected variable shadowing
  • no generics
  • not-so-obvious slices behaviour
• http://dtrace.org/blogs/wesolows/2014/12/29/golang-is-trash/ (Keith Wesolowski, 2014)
  • the worst compiler toolchain ever
  • psuedointellectual arrogance of Rob Pike and everything he stands for
  • confusing and undebuggable
• http://nomad.so/2015/03/why-gos-design-is-a-disservice-to-intelligent-programmers/ (Gary Willoughby, 2015)
  • too simple / lack of syntactic sugar
  • no generics
  • bad dependency management
  • stuck in 70's
• https://kaushalsubedi.com/blog/2015/11/10/golang-sucks-heres-why/ (Kaushal Subedi, 2015)
  • no generics
  • slow json parsing
  • bad dependency management
  • no subpackages
• http://byrd.im/go-is-poor/ (Ian Byrd, 2015)
  • not-so-obvious slices behaviour
  • nil interfaces are not entirely nil
  • unexpected variable shadowing
  • no first-class support of interfaces
  • questionable compiler rigidity
  • go generate is a quirk
• http://spaces-vs-tabs.com/4-weeks-of-golang-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ (Freddy Rangel, 2015)
  • not-so-obvious slices behaviour
  • error handling
  • hard to test, hard to mock
• http://www.evanmiller.org/four-days-of-go.html (Evan Miller, 2015)
  • no unused imports
  • too opinionated
  • poor std math lib
  • weird mascot (gopher)
• http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak, 2015)
  • no immutables
  • too simple / lack of syntactic sugar
  • confusing/stupid syntax
  • too opinionated
  • error handling
  • stuck in 70's
  • no generics
  • upper-case/lower-case scoping is bad
  • no map/reduce/filter
• http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov, 2015)
  • designed for stupid people
  • too verbose
  • no ternary operator
  • no macros or templates
  • can't change hash function in maps
  • unwieldy to code new collections
  • no function overloading
  • can't declare/validate implements interface
  • no virtual functions
  • case defined exports is bad
• http://valuedrivenit.blogspot.ru/2015/12/to-go-language-is-mess.html (Cliff Berg, 2015)
  • un-googlable name
  • confusing/stupid syntax
  • polymorphism is broken
  • compilation rules are too confining
  • designed for stupid people
  • package mechanism is broken
• https://medium.com/@rgausnet/3-reasons-why-go-isnt-the-perfect-language-yet-25e0da5ec04c (Ryan Gaus, 2016)
  • not stable
  • no map/reduce/filter
  • bad dependency management
• http://www.jtolds.com/writing/2016/03/go-channels-are-bad-and-you-should-feel-bad/ (JT Olds, 2016)
  • channels are slow
  • channel API is inconsistent
• https://blog.plan99.net/modern-garbage-collection-911ef4f8bd8e#.62yek82xg (Mike Hearn, 2016)
  • misleading marketing around garbage collector
  • garbage collector is nothing new; concurrent mark/sweep from the '70s
  • garbage collector requires implicit (hidden) tradeoffs
  • garbage collector optimized for pause times at the cost of other desirable gc features

Reverse complaints index

It's a reverse complaints index, generated by https://github.com/ksimka/go-is-not-good/blob/master/generator.go (thanks to @capoferro)

• GOPATH is a mess
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
• new and make instead of one
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
• panic instead of exceptions
  • https://uberpython.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/why-im-not-leaving-python-for-go/ (Yuval Greenfield 2012)
• bad dependency management
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
  • http://nomad.so/2015/03/why-gos-design-is-a-disservice-to-intelligent-programmers/ (Gary Willoughby 2015)
  • https://kaushalsubedi.com/blog/2015/11/10/golang-sucks-heres-why/ (Kaushal Subedi 2015)
  • https://medium.com/@rgausnet/3-reasons-why-go-isnt-the-perfect-language-yet-25e0da5ec04c (Ryan Gaus 2016)
• c-style
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
• can't change hash function in maps
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• can't declare/validate implements interface
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• can't import packages relatively
  • http://blog.mattbasta.com/things_that_make_me_sad_in_go.html (Matt Basta 2014)
• case defined exports is bad
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• channel API is inconsistent
  • http://www.jtolds.com/writing/2016/03/go-channels-are-bad-and-you-should-feel-bad/ (JT Olds 2016)
• channels are slow
  • http://www.jtolds.com/writing/2016/03/go-channels-are-bad-and-you-should-feel-bad/ (JT Olds 2016)
• compilation rules are too confining
  • http://valuedrivenit.blogspot.ru/2015/12/to-go-language-is-mess.html (Cliff Berg 2015)
• confusing and undebuggable
  • http://dtrace.org/blogs/wesolows/2014/12/29/golang-is-trash/ (Keith Wesolowski 2014)
• confusing/stupid syntax
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
  • http://valuedrivenit.blogspot.ru/2015/12/to-go-language-is-mess.html (Cliff Berg 2015)
• designed for stupid people
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
  • http://valuedrivenit.blogspot.ru/2015/12/to-go-language-is-mess.html (Cliff Berg 2015)
• different build approaches
  • http://blog.mattbasta.com/things_that_make_me_sad_in_go.html (Matt Basta 2014)
• error handling
  • https://uberpython.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/why-im-not-leaving-python-for-go/ (Yuval Greenfield 2012)
  • http://how-bazaar.blogspot.ru/2013/04/the-go-language-my-thoughts.html (Tim Penhey 2013)
  • https://www.upguard.com/blog/our-experience-with-golang (Mark Sheahan 2014)
  • http://spaces-vs-tabs.com/4-weeks-of-golang-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ (Freddy Rangel 2015)
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
• garbage collector is nothing new; concurrent mark/sweep from the '70s
  • https://blog.plan99.net/modern-garbage-collection-911ef4f8bd8e#.62yek82xg (Mike Hearn 2016)
• garbage collector optimized for pause times at the cost of other desirable gc features
  • https://blog.plan99.net/modern-garbage-collection-911ef4f8bd8e#.62yek82xg (Mike Hearn 2016)
• garbage collector requires implicit (hidden) tradeoffs
  • https://blog.plan99.net/modern-garbage-collection-911ef4f8bd8e#.62yek82xg (Mike Hearn 2016)
• go generate is a quirk
  • http://byrd.im/go-is-poor/ (Ian Byrd 2015)
• hard to extend
  • http://jozefg.bitbucket.org/posts/2013-08-23-leaving-go.html (Danny Gratzer 2013)
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
• hard to test, hard to mock
  • http://spaces-vs-tabs.com/4-weeks-of-golang-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ (Freddy Rangel 2015)
• has pointers
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
  • http://magicmakerman.blogspot.ru/2013/07/why-googles-go-programming-language.html (Magic Maker Man 2013)
• hidden types
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
• immature GC
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
• inconvenient range
  • http://how-bazaar.blogspot.ru/2013/04/the-go-language-my-thoughts.html (Tim Penhey 2013)
• is compiled
  • http://www.darkcoding.net/software/go-lang-after-four-months/ (Graham King 2012)
• lack of basic data structures
  • http://blog.mattbasta.com/things_that_make_me_sad_in_go.html (Matt Basta 2014)
• misleading marketing around garbage collector
  • https://blog.plan99.net/modern-garbage-collection-911ef4f8bd8e#.62yek82xg (Mike Hearn 2016)
• nil as a failure marker
  • http://yager.io/programming/go.html (Will Yager 2014)
• nil interfaces are not entirely nil
  • http://byrd.im/go-is-poor/ (Ian Byrd 2015)
• no OOP
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
  • http://magicmakerman.blogspot.ru/2013/07/why-googles-go-programming-language.html (Magic Maker Man 2013)
• no map/reduce/filter
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
  • https://medium.com/@rgausnet/3-reasons-why-go-isnt-the-perfect-language-yet-25e0da5ec04c (Ryan Gaus 2016)
• no this
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
• no asserts
  • http://magicmakerman.blogspot.ru/2013/07/why-googles-go-programming-language.html (Magic Maker Man 2013)
• no constructors
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
• no decent IDE
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
  • https://www.upguard.com/blog/our-experience-with-golang (Mark Sheahan 2014)
• no exceptions
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
  • http://www.darkcoding.net/software/go-lang-after-four-months/ (Graham King 2012)
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
• no first-class support of interfaces
  • http://byrd.im/go-is-poor/ (Ian Byrd 2015)
• no function overloading
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• no function/operator overloading
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
  • http://yager.io/programming/go.html (Will Yager 2014)
• no generics
  • http://jozefg.bitbucket.org/posts/2013-08-23-leaving-go.html (Danny Gratzer 2013)
  • http://how-bazaar.blogspot.ru/2013/04/the-go-language-my-thoughts.html (Tim Penhey 2013)
  • http://yager.io/programming/go.html (Will Yager 2014)
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
  • https://www.upguard.com/blog/our-experience-with-golang (Mark Sheahan 2014)
  • http://nomad.so/2015/03/why-gos-design-is-a-disservice-to-intelligent-programmers/ (Gary Willoughby 2015)
  • https://kaushalsubedi.com/blog/2015/11/10/golang-sucks-heres-why/ (Kaushal Subedi 2015)
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
• no immutables
  • http://yager.io/programming/go.html (Will Yager 2014)
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
• no language interoperability (only C)
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
• no macros or templates
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• no pattern matching
  • http://yager.io/programming/go.html (Will Yager 2014)
• no semicolons at line endings
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
• no subpackages
  • https://kaushalsubedi.com/blog/2015/11/10/golang-sucks-heres-why/ (Kaushal Subedi 2015)
• no sugar for slices
  • http://blog.mattbasta.com/things_that_make_me_sad_in_go.html (Matt Basta 2014)
• no ternary operator
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• no unused imports
  • http://www.evanmiller.org/four-days-of-go.html (Evan Miller 2015)
• no user-type iteration
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
• no versioning model
  • https://dzone.com/articles/i-don%E2%80%99t-much-get-go (Jon Davis 2010)
• no virtual functions
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• not stable
  • https://medium.com/@rgausnet/3-reasons-why-go-isnt-the-perfect-language-yet-25e0da5ec04c (Ryan Gaus 2016)
• not-so-obvious slices behaviour
  • https://www.upguard.com/blog/our-experience-with-golang (Mark Sheahan 2014)
  • http://byrd.im/go-is-poor/ (Ian Byrd 2015)
  • http://spaces-vs-tabs.com/4-weeks-of-golang-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ (Freddy Rangel 2015)
• package mechanism is broken
  • http://valuedrivenit.blogspot.ru/2015/12/to-go-language-is-mess.html (Cliff Berg 2015)
• pointers are a mess
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
• polymorphism is broken
  • http://valuedrivenit.blogspot.ru/2015/12/to-go-language-is-mess.html (Cliff Berg 2015)
• poor design
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
• poor std math lib
  • http://www.evanmiller.org/four-days-of-go.html (Evan Miller 2015)
• project layout is bad
  • http://blog.mattbasta.com/things_that_make_me_sad_in_go.html (Matt Basta 2014)
• psuedointellectual arrogance of Rob Pike and everything he stands for
  • http://dtrace.org/blogs/wesolows/2014/12/29/golang-is-trash/ (Keith Wesolowski 2014)
• questionable compiler rigidity
  • http://byrd.im/go-is-poor/ (Ian Byrd 2015)
• slow json parsing
  • https://kaushalsubedi.com/blog/2015/11/10/golang-sucks-heres-why/ (Kaushal Subedi 2015)
• stuck in 70's
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
  • https://uberpython.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/why-im-not-leaving-python-for-go/ (Yuval Greenfield 2012)
  • http://www.darkcoding.net/software/go-lang-after-four-months/ (Graham King 2012)
  • http://nomad.so/2015/03/why-gos-design-is-a-disservice-to-intelligent-programmers/ (Gary Willoughby 2015)
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
• the worst compiler toolchain ever
  • http://dtrace.org/blogs/wesolows/2014/12/29/golang-is-trash/ (Keith Wesolowski 2014)
• too opinionated
  • http://corte.si/posts/code/go/go-rant.html (Aldo Cortesi 2013)
  • http://www.evanmiller.org/four-days-of-go.html (Evan Miller 2015)
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
• too simple / lack of syntactic sugar
  • https://cowlark.com/2009-11-15-go/ (David Given 2009)
  • http://nomad.so/2015/03/why-gos-design-is-a-disservice-to-intelligent-programmers/ (Gary Willoughby 2015)
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
• too verbose
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• too young
  • http://www.darkcoding.net/software/go-lang-after-four-months/ (Graham King 2012)
• type inference is too simple
  • http://yager.io/programming/go.html (Will Yager 2014)
• un-googlable name
  • http://www.darkcoding.net/software/go-lang-after-four-months/ (Graham King 2012)
  • http://valuedrivenit.blogspot.ru/2015/12/to-go-language-is-mess.html (Cliff Berg 2015)
• unexpected variable shadowing
  • https://www.upguard.com/blog/our-experience-with-golang (Mark Sheahan 2014)
  • http://byrd.im/go-is-poor/ (Ian Byrd 2015)
• unwieldy to code new collections
  • http://tmikov.blogspot.com/2015/02/you-dont-like-googles-go-because-you.html (Tzvetan Mikov 2015)
• upper-case/lower-case scoping is bad
  • https://rule1.quora.com/Golang-Not-yet (Jordan Zimmerman 2014)
  • http://blog.goodstuff.im/golang (David Pollak 2015)
• weird mascot (gopher)
  • http://magicmakerman.blogspot.ru/2013/07/why-googles-go-programming-language.html (Magic Maker Man 2013)
  • http://www.evanmiller.org/four-days-of-go.html (Evan Miller 2015)

Get involved

Feel free to add a PR with a new or old article you found on the internet. The structure is simple, just look at existing entries. Run make and check in the resulting README.md along with your updated entries.json.

{
	"URL": "https://kaushalsubedi.com/blog/2015/11/10/golang-sucks-heres-why/",
	"Author": "Kaushal Subedi",
	"Year":  2015,
	"Complaints":[
		"no generics",
		"slow json parsing",
		"bad dependency management",
		"no subpackages"
	]
}

TODO

• merge complaints with the same ideas under the same names (make the complaints list smaller)
• sort reverse index by the number of articles which have that complain (popular complains to the top)