[alharith]

Generics, I would certainly be ecstatic for if it was done in a way that is novel and feels Go-like, so not Java or C# or C++'s implementations. This has certainly been the stance of the Go team since the beginning of time. It has never been "anti-generics" it's always been "we've studied all the generics implementations out there, and didn't feel like any one of them were good enough, so rather than shoehorn them in, we are being patient." This approach needs to be celebrated more.

Exceptions, OTOH, I hope never see the light of day in Go. Curse them.

[jjice]

What's wrong with the way that Java, C# a, and C++ handle generics? I see this complaint fairly regularly, but I was never sure why. Is it how the compiler handles it, or how the language defines it that is the reason for this dislike? Genuine curiosity.

[alharith]

This is the lazy answer I know, but I wanted to at least answer your genuine curiosity: There is ample research available online on the subject that explains it in depth and far better than I ever could. However, I will leave you with a few quotes that help at least paint the picture.

From the Golang FAQ:

> Generics are convenient but they come at a cost in complexity in the type system and run-time. We haven’t yet found a design that gives value proportionate to the complexity

Quote from Russ Cox:

> The generic dilemma is this: do you want slow programmers, slow compilers and bloated binaries, or slow execution times?

Finally, one of the reasons the C++ or Java approach has never been palatable to Go core devs is summarized from this Rob Pike quote from his famous "Less is Exponentially More" blog post:

> If C++ and Java are about type hierarchies and the taxonomy of types, Go is about composition

So therefore it really is also a matter of finding a generics approach that lives up to that spirit as well. Contracts I think are approaching that.

All that said, user defined generics (since technically speaking, Go has many generic capabilities today already) are coming to Go, they just aren't being rushed. I think we will be happy with the generics implementation in Go within the next year.