> Sure there should be some other small projects, but nothing earth shattering, the way C++/Java are used
Go is an incredibly young language - it only just received its first official release a few months ago, and yet it already has two complete and independent compiler implementations (both gc and the more optimized[1] gccgo), as well as a staggering number of libraries for most common tasks.
As someone who enjoys toying around with developing languages, I've been blown away by how solid the entire Go ecosystem is at this early stage.
> The story, as told also by Rob Pike elsewhere, speaks of some guys getting together t hack on a new language on some pain points THEY had, and mostly as a side project.
I think every language (or every project) has as many stories of its origin as there are creators - if not more. They're not mutually exclusive, as you seem to make it look.
[1] in that it takes advantage of gcc, which is incredibly well-optimized for non-concurrent applications, that is
llgo (an llvm go compiler written in go) is also happily on its way to being a third compiler. Andrew Wilkins recently made a statement that he was able to get some Go code running in Chrome via PNaCl. Pretty exciting stuff.
Go is an incredibly young language - it only just received its first official release a few months ago, and yet it already has two complete and independent compiler implementations (both gc and the more optimized[1] gccgo), as well as a staggering number of libraries for most common tasks.
As someone who enjoys toying around with developing languages, I've been blown away by how solid the entire Go ecosystem is at this early stage.
> The story, as told also by Rob Pike elsewhere, speaks of some guys getting together t hack on a new language on some pain points THEY had, and mostly as a side project.
I think every language (or every project) has as many stories of its origin as there are creators - if not more. They're not mutually exclusive, as you seem to make it look.
[1] in that it takes advantage of gcc, which is incredibly well-optimized for non-concurrent applications, that is