Go vs CoffeeScript
When comparing Go vs CoffeeScript, the Slant community recommends Go for most people. In the question“What is the best programming language to learn first?” Go is ranked 2nd while CoffeeScript is ranked 65th. The most important reason people chose Go is:
The language is designed in a manner that seems logical. Syntax is simplified to reduce burden on the programmer and compiler developers.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Simplified C-like syntax that is as easy to read and write as Python
The language is designed in a manner that seems logical. Syntax is simplified to reduce burden on the programmer and compiler developers.
Pro Great team working behind it
Go has a solid team of engineers working on it (some of the best networking engineers in the world are working on Go). Up until now, the great engineering of the language has compensated for its lack of power.
Pro Easy to install and configure; simple to compile software
Go software can be immediately installed, regardless of your operating system, package manager, or processor architecture with the go get command. Software is compiled statically by default so there is no need to worry about software dependencies on the client system. Makefiles and headers are no longer necessary, as the package system automatically resolves dependencies, downloads source code and compiles via a single command: go build
.
Pro Programmers don't have to argue over what 10% subet of the language to implement in their software project
The language promotes programming in a specific idiomatic style, which helps keep every programmer on the same page.
Pro Supports 'modules' in the form of packages
Every Go source file contains a package line that indicates which package a file belongs to. If the name of the package is 'main', it indicates that this is a program that will be compiled into a binary. Otherwise, it will recognize that it is a package.
Pro Demonstrates a unique, simple concept to object-oriented programming
All types are essentially objects, be they type aliases or structs. The compiler automatically associates types to their methods at compile time. Those methods are automatically associated to all interfaces that match. This allows you to gain the benefits of multiple inheritance without glue code. As a result of the design, classes are rendered obsolete and the resulting style is easy to comprehend.
Pro Great language for building networking services
Go was started as a systems language but now it has fully committed in the niche of networking services. This has been a brilliant move by Go because it allows them to capitalize on the immense talent of the Go engineering team (who are in the most part network engineers).
In a world dominated by Java EE and slow scripting language, Go was a breath of fresh air and it continues to be one of the most powerful languages if you want to build networking services.
Pro Exceptionally simple and scalable multithreaded and concurrent programming
Goroutines are "lightweight threads" that runs on OS threads. They provide a simple way for concurrent operations — prepending a function with go
will execute it concurrently. It utilizes channels for communication between goroutines which aids to prevent races and makes synchronizing execution effortless across goroutines. The maximum number of OS threads goroutines can run on may be defined at compile time with the GOMAXPROCS
variable.
Pro The go compiler compiles binaries instantly — as fast as a scripting language interpreter
Compiled binaries are fast — about as fast in C in most cases. Compiles on every OS without effort — truly cross-platform compiler. As a result of the fast compilation speed, you can use the gorun program to use go source code as if it was a scripting language.
Pro Performance is on the order of C and Java
Go is blazing fast, but easier to write than Python, JS, Ruby, or many other dynamic languages.
Pro Jobs available
You can find a Job knowing Go. Which is more than can be said with many other languages.
Pro API documentation is rich in content; easy to memorize
Only features deemed critical are added to the language to prevent cruft from working its way into the language. The language is small enough to fit inside one's head without having to repeatedly open documentation. Documentation is hosted on an official webpage in a manner that is simple to read and understand.
Pro Supports functional programming techniques such as function literals
This naturally also supports first class and high order functions, so you may pass functions as variables to other functions.
Pro Multiple variables may be assigned on a single line
This conveniently eliminates the need to create temporary variables.
Fibonacci example: x, y = y, x+y
Pro Built-in unit testing
The idiomatic approach to writing a Go software project is to perform test-driven development with unit testing. Every source code file should have an associated *_test.go
file which tests functions in the code.
Pro Provides tools for automatically formatting code for your entire software project
This helps keep every programmer on the same page in a project and eliminates arguments over formatting styles.
Pro Automatically generates API documentation for installed packages
Godoc is provided to automatically generate API documentation for Go projects. Godoc also hosts its own self-contained web server that will list documentation for all installed packages in your Go path.
Pro Supports splitting source code into multiple files
As long as every source code file in a directory has the same package name, the compiler will automatically concatenate all of the files together during the compilation process.
Pro Syntax for exported code from a package is simplified to be less verbose than other languages
Any variable, type and function whose name begins with a capital letter will be exported by a project, while all other code remains private. There is no longer a need to signify that a piece of code is 'private' or 'public' manually.
Pro Compiles to readable Javascript
With CoffeeScript, there's never really a question of what is going on. If you're worried that something went wrong in the compilation process, the output is very human readable and mostly 1 to 1 with the CoffeeScript code, making debugging easier as the code that is being executed by the interpreter can be double checked.
Pro Widely used
CoffeeScript is the most popular of the compile to Javascript languages, so long term support is much less of a worry than with others.
It also means there are many plugins and tools for integrating it into many different build systems, giving it it nearly universal support.
Pro Lightweight syntax
Javascript is a very verbose language so CoffeeScript's goal is to lighten it to make it less tedious.
Various design choices are built around making CoffeeScript more terse with things like optional parenthesis in function calls, cleaner function declarations, no curly braces, and significant white space. Because Javascript can get pretty deeply nested at times, having a lightweight syntax helps with readability.
The result is a language with a minimalistic syntax with lots of syntax sugar.
Pro It's just JavaScript
The golden rule of CoffeeScript is: "It's just JavaScript". The code compiles one-to-one into the equivalent JS, and there is no interpretation at runtime. You can use any existing JavaScript library seamlessly from CoffeeScript (and vice-versa). The compiled output is readable and pretty-printed, passes through JavaScript Lint without warnings, will work in every JavaScript runtime, and tends to run as fast or faster than the equivalent handwritten JavaScript.
Pro Syntax for humans, not compilers.
CoffeeScript adds syntax that is not only more terse than javascript, smoothing over the rough edges, but also enforces a more human readable syntax to the point where a non-programmer can understand some logic.
Many programmers that are not use to coffeescripts syntax will find it foreign if they don't read the single page API, but generally it is quick to understand and although self documenting code is a myth coffeescript is definitely very close.
if hungry then eat food for food in fridge when food isnt poison and it isnt bedtime
Seems a lot more concise and comprehensible to many programmers and most others than the alternative syntax:
var food, i, len;
if (hungry) {
for (i = 0, len = fridge.length; i < len; i++) {
food = fridge[i];
if (food !== poison && it !== bedtime) {
eat(food);
}
}
}
Pro Function syntax is great for callbacks
Passing functions as callbacks is central to how Javascript is written, but the default syntax for functions is very verbose and hard to read. Various CoffeeScript syntax decisions help with ease of writing and reading functions.
The most obvious change is that the function keyword is changed from function
to ->
. Writing out the word function
is very clunky especially when you need to use multiple nested functions.
One of the more opinionated choices of CoffeeScript is the use of significant whitespace, and optional parens around function arguments. While this can be used poorly, it can also be used to great effect with nested functions. For example, a function that takes an object that defines anonymous functions will end in a mess of parens and curly braces:
asyncAction({
success: function(data){ /* handle data */ },
error: function(error){ /* handle errors */ }
});
In CoffeeScript you could rewrite this as:
asyncAction
success: (data) -> /* handle data */
fail: (error) -> /* handle errors */
Other helpful features are automatic returning of the last statement to make short anonymous functions easier so (a, b) -> a+b
would replace function (a, b) { return a+b; }
, as well as binding functions to the current context object with =>
.
Pro Splats
Because Javascript functions can take variable amounts of parameters, it is helpful to be able to use splats to extract an array of arguments in a function.
For example, if you have a function like: (a, b, rest...) ->
any amount of parameters sent to the function after a
, b
will be stored in an array in the variable rest
. You can also put splats at the start or middle of the arguments list, such as (a, middle..., b) ->
.
When calling a function you can use a splat to apply an array as arguments as well.
Pro Everything is an expression
Even for
loops and if
statements. For example, to get mapped array, you don't have to use any Array methods, just the language features:food = ( stuff for stuff in fridge when stuff.isEatable() )
Pro Familiar to Ruby programmers
CoffeeScript was created by a Ruby programmer and a number of syntax features are modelled on Ruby equivalents, so will be familiar to Ruby programmers. For example, implicit returns, i.e. the last variable of each function is implicitly returned, so "return" keyword need not be present.
Pro Extremely easy to document with literate coffeescript
Skip the documentation build, just write documentation with literate CoffeeScript.
CoffeeScript has a literate mode which let's you use markdown (used by almost everything, such as reddit, github, stack exchange, etc) with code indented how you would normally in markdown and simply enables you to run the code.
This enables you to quickly write FORMATTED, custom documentation that's easily displayed with no build step for the documentation.
Pro Source maps allow you to debug code in CoffeeScript
With source maps, you can get the proper location of where an error occurred directly in precompiled code, making it easier to debug without the tedious step of translating the compiled code back to the original code in your head.
Pro Significant whitespace
Having indention-based code blocks is particularly helpful in JavaScript because of its functional callback based nature. In JavaScript you find yourself writing functions within object and passing functions to functions. You can find statements ending with a confusing melange of braces like )}})})
. With significant whitespace, most of the needs for braces go away.
Pro Default choice for Ruby on Rails
Pro Maintainable code
Easy to read and easy to work with structures like list.
Cons
Con Golang controlled by Google
Solves Google problems, which might not be your or the majority of user's problems. Was created for the benefit and purposes of Google, so is less flexible in language direction and options.
Con Hard to abstract even the simplest notions
Go is famously regarded as very simple. However, this simplicity becomes problematic in time. Programmers who use Go find themselves over and over again writing the same thing from a very low point of view. Domains not already served by libraries that are easy to glue are very difficult to get into.
Con Forces K&R style and won't allow Allman style
Golang developers were extremely short-sighted and biased by forcing the K&R style, which should never have happened. Basically kicking Allman style users out of their language.
Con Doesn't have true enums
Golang does weirdness with const versus having real enums, like other languages. This reflects the stubbornness and shortsightedness of the core developers, similar to the issue with generics, where it was denied that it was needed until it became too obvious that it should have been added years ago.
Con Does not have sum types
Makes it harder to have functions of different parameters types in a non OOP language. Thus messy generics and interfaces, and more confusion, where sum types could have solved a number of issues.
Con It appears Google uses position to snuff out or suppress other languages
Newer languages that could threaten Golang (or other Google controlled languages) appear to have suppressed search results on Google and YouTube. Dangerous situation where large company can manipulate user choice and market share. The freedom to freely choose and user rights need to be protected.
Con Designed to make the programmer expendable
Go was designed for large team projects where many contributors may be incompetent. That Go can still get things done under these conditions is a testament to its utility in this niche. Go's infamously weak abstraction power is thus a feature, not a bug, meant to prevent your teammates from doing too much damage. This also means any team member can be easily replaced by another code monkey at minimum cost. Good for the company, bad for you. The more talented programmers, on the other hand, will be very frustrated by having one hand tied behind their back.
Con Easy to shadow variable
Due to single character only difference, declare and assign statement can easily shadow variable from outer scope unconsciously. Example:
err := nil
if xxx {
err := somefunctionthatreturnsanerr
}
return err // always return nil
Con No forms designer
Those who are used to Visual Studio can feel the lack of a forms designer for rapid development.
Con Bizarre syntactic choices like a unique date format.
Con Changing visibility requires renaming all over the code
Con Lacks support for immutable data
Only way to prevent something from being mutated is to make copies of it, and to be very careful to not mutate it.
Con Performance slowdown because of indirect calls and garbage collection
Practically no meaningful Go application can be written without indirect function calls and garbage collection, these are central to Go's core infrastructure. But these are major impediments to achieving good performance.
Con Implementation of interfaces are difficult to figure out
Finding out what interfaces are implemented by a struct requires a magic crystal ball. They are easy to write, but difficult to read and trawl through.
Con Terse syntax can lead to ambiguity
It can sometimes be hard to be sure of what CoffeeScript will compile down to because of the optional parentheses and significant white spacing. Over multiple lines the same statement can be written in many different ways, and it's not always clear what the intended interpretation is.
For example:foo bar and hello world
can compile to either:
foo(bar) && hello(world)
foo(bar && hello(world))
Con Initializing a variable and assigning it are essentially the same thing
Because of how variables are initialized and reassigned in CoffeeScript, it becomes very easy to accidentally overwrite a variable as the codebase increases. As complexity increases, the only way to safely create a variable is by pressing Ctrl + F and by examining the current file to ensure that there's no conflict.
Con Last expression is returned by default
While this is a pro for small functions, it requires self-discipline to check if unnecessary overheads are introduced:
eat_full = ->
for food in fridge
break if full
cook food if food.requires_cooking()
eat food
This will return array of eat
function results. Can be fixed by adding empty return
at the end.