[candiodari]

The argument specified in the docs is "a language needs only one conditional flow construct" (in a language, of course, that has half a dozen conditional flow constructs ...)

The more palatable argument that people who try to cover for ... seems to be that when people nest if expressions, it becomes a mess. I'm glad these people exist.

The real reason is found here: http://dtrace.org/blogs/wesolows/2014/12/29/golang-is-trash/

(or if you prefer, in the compiler's source itself. It doesn't take a compiler expert to realize it's not very clean code. Even violates the go style, and the C one before that was just horrendous)

The TLDR is that Go's compiler is a "fisher-price my first compiler" and really shows that the authors simply barely knew how to get a compiler working in the first place. That they were not ready to go into a rational discussion on programming language and type theory ... is not something anyone should be surprised about.

That they avoid the arguments by dismissing the people making them in such a condescending way is ... well, there's not really anything good to say about that.

[4ad]

Ken Thompson has been writing compilers for over 50 years now. If you believe that Ken "barely knew how to get a compiler working in the first place", we have nothing to talk about, as you obviously made up your mind already.

[candiodari]

Then read the source for the compiler yourself. Tell me I'm wrong.

[4ad]

Not only I have read it, I have written several compiler targets for it. You are wrong. It's by far the easiest compiler I have worked with.