[kkowalczyk]

An "alternative" doesn't mean "has to be as good or better at everything that C++ does".

Most programs don't have garbage collection latency issues. Look at Android or Windows Phone - all the user-level apps are written in garbage-collected language and they work just fine.

Look at web - all the interaction is written in JavaScript and Gmail works just fine.

At this point in the discussion people usually bring "real time" applications. Approximately no-one writes those applications.

Go is an alternative to C++ in the sense that many (but not all) programs that you had to write in C++ you can now write in Go.

[VMG]

> Look at Android or Windows Phone - all the user-level apps are written in garbage-collected language and they work just fine.

Aren't there people blaming Android's perceived laggyness on this?

[pjmlp]

Many do, but actually the problem is caused by UI using software rendering instead of the GPU. This was only changed in Android 3.0.

Another thing is that many developers do too much in the UI thread instead of doing it in the background or asynchronously.

[juan_juarez]

Exactly - most programs don't generate all that much garbage. We've been working on GC for 40 years now, unless you're being reckless you probably won't notice it.