[HL33tibCe7]

People like to dunk on V because of its author and community, but I will say that the design of the language itself (leaving aside the implementation) is genuinely interesting. To me, it feels like what Go should have been. And I like Go. So obviously I have a bit of a soft spot for V.

Disclaimer: I’ve never actually used it.

[mawfig]

I'm sorry if you feel this is a dunk on V. Having seen quite a bit of discussion both on hacker news and other places saying that V has improved significantly since Xe's articles a few years ago, I thought it would be worth while to attempt a modern evaluation of the language based on where it is today. Throughout, I tried to ground my review by basing it on the claims the developers themselves make.

Would you mind expanding on your later comment? While I'm not a Go programmer, it's pretty easy for me to see why it has the features it has based on their commitment to fast compile times and being easy to learn. V on the other hand feels like an incoherent list of the biggest buzzwords in the industry right now with no clear overall design.

[HL33tibCe7]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to suggest that this article itself was a dunk. I was commenting on the discussion I see elsewhere on the language (including elsewhere in this comments section). The article itself is a good summary of the problems with V — mostly with its implementation which does appear shoddy.

V’s design address many things I feel are lacking whenever I use Go: nil safety, sum types, option/result types, mandatory error checking. I think V is best understood in the context of being Go++.

Having looked a bit deeper though, the immutability and generics stuff does feel a bit bolted on, so I do see your point.

[Rochus]

> I thought it would be worth while to attempt a modern evaluation of the language based on where it is today

A good idea indeed, thanks for the effort.

Although I'm quite surprised why V has gained so much attention.

[avgcorrection]

> the design of the language itself (leaving aside the implementation) is genuinely interesting […]

> Disclaimer: I’ve never actually used it.

I can make a hypotethical language as well (I do it all the time), but I wouldn’t make a website about it and give it a name.

[capitalsigma]

New language proposal: W

Features: * All of the things you want * No things that you don't want

Please donate to my Patreon

[mountainriver]

I agree, the interface has always been great which is what attracts people. The core developer is just overselling and it’s coming back on him