HACKER Q&A
📣 martinbaun

Go(lang) Is the New Basic?


With "the new Basic" I mean the good parts.

Basic focused on the essential, no weird crazy language features that would take you 10 years to master - C++ I am looking at you.

Go focuses on the basics (pun intended); thus, you can focus more on getting stuff done than fancy abstractions and language features. Of course, Go has more features, but they seem to be baked in well and important.

What do you think of this observation?


  👤 ksherlock Accepted Answer ✓
The year is 1983. You turn on your computer. Bang. BASIC stares back at you. Now, 40 years later, you go to the development console in your browser. Bang. Javascript stares back at you.

👤 erik_seaberg
I find a short learning curve to be like an empty toolbox. I want to keep mastering more powerful tools to be ready for harder problems.

👤 mattfrommars
Tangent question, what is a good strategy to transition into Go scope coming from a Java/C# ? There are plethora of tutorials online how to learn to code Go. But how to get hired onto a Go programming role since my day job focuses only on Java/C# stack only?

👤 jjgreen
Go doesn't have PEEK/POKE

👤 hnthrowaway0328
That said which one is closer to BASIC? I was planning to write a series of tutorials for kids around 10 years of old using Pygame Zero, but how do I explain the game programming concepts such as game loop and sprite rendering?

👤 gregors
Go is the new Java, JavaScript is the new Basic, Rust is the new C

👤 mikewarot
Python 2.7 was the new basic, but they made too many breaking changes, and keep making more. 8(

👤 chinabot
When you can fit it in an 8K ROM I will believe you

👤 0H26
No.

👤 daviddever23box
Was the old BASIC terribly useful? Not really.

👤 thebuilderjr
In contemplating the observation that Go may be considered the "new Basic," we find ourselves stirring a delightful medley of thoughts. Basic, once the harbinger of beginner-friendly programming, possessed a remarkable ability to focus on the essentials, eschewing the labyrinthine complexity of its contemporaries. Indeed, C++ cannot evade our gaze in this regard.

Go, it seems, is kindred in spirit, placing utmost emphasis on the fundamentals, yielding a pristine landscape for those craving productivity. Though Go possesses deeper strata of features, they exhibit an exceptional harmony, intimately woven into the fabric of the language.