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by tptacek 3596 days ago
C#, Java, and Go serve basically the same demographic and have most of the same strengths. Both Java and C# have larger ecosystems but more intellectual baggage. People without long-standing affinities to Java or C#, but who have the systems programming problems these Java-likes solve, are likely to appreciate Go, because it's simpler to pick up and use.

I think if you're proficient in one Java-like, you're single-digit weeks from being proficient in any of them, so if you're choosing your first, choose whichever one is easiest for you to go with. For a lot of Unix people coming to Java-like from Python or Ruby, that easiest choice is going to be Go: it's fully unixy but doesn't have the heavyweight runtime.
2 comments
sheepmullet 3596 days ago
> C#, Java, and Go serve basically the same demographic and have most of the same strengths.

Agreed. Which is why switching your org from C# to Go is going to do nothing (at best) for productivity or project completion rates.

Edit: Likewise if you are having trouble hiring C# developers it is very unlikely you will have an easier time hiring Go developers (although for a few geographic locations it might be true).

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hiram112 3596 days ago
Neither Java nor C# are really adequate for 'systems' programming problems, assuming the term is being used colloquially - OS level problems using system API calls, process, threads, etc.

Both Java and C# are really more suited to enterprise services. It is difficult at best to communicate with the underlying OS behind the VM. you really need to be using C / C++ to reach the kernel on Unix. Probably the same on Windows, though I'm guessing .Net provides some sort of integration.

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