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diff --git a/content/1year.article b/content/1year.article new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cad82c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/1year.article @@ -0,0 +1,148 @@ +# Go: one year ago today +10 Nov 2010 +Tags: birthday +Summary: Happy 1st birthday, Go! +OldURL: /go-one-year-ago-today + +Andrew Gerrand + +## + +On the 10th of November 2009 we launched the Go project: +an open-source programming language with a focus on simplicity and efficiency. +The intervening year has seen a great many developments both in the Go project +itself and in its community. + +We set out to build a language for systems programming - the kinds of programs +one might typically write in C or C++ - and we were surprised by Go’s +utility as a general purpose language. +We had anticipated interest from C, C++, and Java programmers, +but the flurry of interest from users of dynamically-typed languages like +Python and JavaScript was unexpected. +Go’s combination of native compilation, +static typing, memory management, and lightweight syntax seemed to strike +a chord with a broad cross-section of the programming community. + +That cross-section grew to become a dedicated community of enthusiastic Go coders. +Our [mailing list](http://groups.google.com/group/golang-nuts) has over 3,800 members, +with around 1,500 posts each month. +The project has over 130 [contributors](https://golang.org/CONTRIBUTORS) +(people who have submitted code or documentation), +and of the 2,800 commits since launch almost one third were contributed +by programmers outside the core team. +To get all that code into shape, nearly 14,000 emails were exchanged on +our [development mailing list](http://groups.google.com/group/golang-dev). + +Those numbers reflect a labor whose fruits are evident in the project’s code base. +The compilers have improved substantially, +with faster and more efficient code generation, +more than one hundred reported bugs fixed, +and support for a widening range of operating systems and architectures. +The Windows port is approaching completion thanks to a dedicated group of +contributors (one of whom became our first non-Google committer to the project). +The ARM port has also made great progress, +recently reaching the milestone of passing all tests. + +The Go tool set has been expanded and improved. +The Go documentation tool, [godoc](https://golang.org/cmd/godoc/), +now supports the documentation of other source trees (you can browse and +search your own code) and provides a ["code walk"](https://golang.org/doc/codewalk/) +interface for presenting tutorial materials (among many more improvements). +[Goinstall](https://golang.org/cmd/goinstall/) , +a new package management tool, allows users to install and update external +packages with a single command. +[Gofmt](https://golang.org/cmd/gofmt/), +the Go pretty-printer, now makes syntactic simplifications where possible. +[Goplay](https://golang.org/misc/goplay/), +a web-based “compile-as-you-type” tool, +is a convenient way to experiment with Go for those times when you don’t +have access to the [Go Playground](https://golang.org/doc/play/). + +The standard library has grown by over 42,000 lines of code and includes +20 new [packages](https://golang.org/pkg/). +Among the additions are the [jpeg](https://golang.org/pkg/image/jpeg/), +[jsonrpc](https://golang.org/pkg/rpc/jsonrpc/), +[mime](https://golang.org/pkg/mime/), [netchan](https://golang.org/pkg/netchan/), +and [smtp](https://golang.org/pkg/smtp/) packages, +as well as a slew of new [cryptography](https://golang.org/pkg/crypto/) packages. +More generally, the standard library has been continuously refined and revised +as our understanding of Go’s idioms deepens. + +The debugging story has gotten better, too. +Recent improvements to the DWARF output of the gc compilers make the GNU debugger, +GDB, useful for Go binaries, and we’re actively working on making that +debugging information more complete. +(See the [ recent blog post](https://blog.golang.org/2010/11/debugging-go-code-status-report.html) for details.) + +It’s now easier than ever to link against existing libraries written in +languages other than Go. +Go support is in the most recent [SWIG](http://www.swig.org/) release, +version 2.0.1, making it easier to link against C and C++ code, +and our [cgo](https://golang.org/cmd/cgo/) tool has seen many fixes and improvements. + +[Gccgo](https://golang.org/doc/gccgo_install.html), +the Go front end for the GNU C Compiler, has kept pace with the gc compiler +as a parallel Go implementation. +It now has a working garbage collector, and has been accepted into the GCC core. +We’re now working toward making [gofrontend](http://code.google.com/p/gofrontend/) +available as a BSD-licensed Go compiler front end, +fully decoupled from GCC. + +Outside the Go project itself Go is starting to be used to build real software. +There are more than 200 Go programs and libraries listed on our [Project dashboard](http://godashboard.appspot.com/project), +and hundreds more on [Google Code](http://code.google.com/hosting/search?q=label:Go) +and [Github](https://github.com/search?q=language:Go). +On our mailing list and IRC channel you can find coders from around the +world who use Go for their programming projects. +(See our [guest blog post](https://blog.golang.org/2010/10/real-go-projects-smarttwitter-and-webgo.html) +from last month for a real-world example.) Internally at Google there are +several teams that choose Go for building production software, +and we have received reports from other companies that are developing sizable systems in Go. +We have also been in touch with several educators who are using Go as a teaching language. + +The language itself has grown and matured, too. +In the past year we have received many feature requests. +But Go is a small language, and we’ve worked hard to ensure that any new +feature strikes the right compromise between simplicity and utility. +Since the launch we have made a number of language changes, +many of which were driven by feedback from the community. + + - Semicolons are now optional in almost all instances. [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Semicolons) + - The new built-in functions `copy` and `append` make management of slices + more efficient and straightforward. + [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Appending_and_copying_slices) + - The upper and lower bounds may be omitted when making a sub-slice. + This means that `s[:]` is shorthand for `s[0:len(s)]`. + [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Slices) + - The new built-in function `recover` complements `panic` and `defer` as + an error handling mechanism. + [blog](https://blog.golang.org/2010/08/defer-panic-and-recover.html), + [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Handling_panics) + - The new complex number types (`complex`, + `complex64`, and `complex128`) simplify certain mathematical operations. + [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Complex_numbers), + [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Imaginary_literals) + - The composite literal syntax permits the omission of redundant type information + (when specifying two-dimensional arrays, for example). + [release.2010-10-27](https://golang.org/doc/devel/release.html#2010-10-27), + [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Composite_literals) + - A general syntax for variable function arguments (`...T`) and their propagation + (`v...`) is now specified. + [spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Function_Types), + [ spec](https://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html#Passing_arguments_to_..._parameters), + [release.2010-09-29](https://golang.org/doc/devel/release.html#2010-09-29) + +Go is certainly ready for production use, +but there is still room for improvement. +Our focus for the immediate future is making Go programs faster and more +efficient in the context of high performance systems. +This means improving the garbage collector, +optimizing generated code, and improving the core libraries. +We’re also exploring some further additions to the type system to make +generic programming easier. +A lot has happened in a year; it’s been both thrilling and satisfying. +We hope that this coming year will be even more fruitful than the last. + +_If you’ve been meaning to get [back] into Go, now is a great time to do so! Check out the_ +[_Documentation_](https://golang.org/doc/docs.html) _and_ [_Getting Started_](https://golang.org/doc/install.html) +_pages for more information, or just go nuts in the_ [_Go Playground_](https://golang.org/doc/play/). |