[enneff]

> The bigger one is why do I see about 600 reflect. entries in the resulting ELF instead of a single one for the string type.*

There is definitely work that can be done to improve dead code elimination in the Go tool chain. The transition to Go will make this easier to achieve.

> What I suspect I see here is a kind of C++ vtable problem built deep into the language design somewhere.

Don't suspect. Dig into the problem and make some informed commentary. Idly speculating on HN is just spreading FUD, and benefits no-one.

You should read about Go's implementation of interfaces. It's not the same as C++'s vtable issue. http://research.swtch.com/interfaces