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by cratermoon 500 days ago
This is from Ian Lance Taylor, a major figure in the development of Go. Taylor was instrumental in bringing generics to the language, this proposal is worth taking seriously.
1 comments

> Taylor was instrumental in bringing generics to the language, this proposal is worth taking seriously.

He submitted, what, 8 failed generics proposals before Phil Wadler came in to figure out what he was missing?

I don't mean to diminish what he has done. He is clearly an important contributor and even those failed proposals were important steps along the way. What I do mean is that judging a proposal based on who it is written by is silly. Imagine if one of those early generics proposals were taken seriously just because of who he is. I expect even he would be unhappy about that outcome in hindsight.

The author is irrelevant. If it is a good proposal, it can stand on its own merits.

Thanks for your insights, they are both penetrating and diffuse.
It's worth noting that 'taking a proposal seriously' doesn't equate to accepting it.