[weberc2]

I agree that there are semantic issues with pointers, but my point was to illustrate that you need sum types in Go to get any real benefit out of an Option type. If you need an option type and you aren't content with a pointer, you can use `(T, bool)`, but this is still a far cry from a real Option type.

[alkonaut]

I use Option<T> types very happily in C# without sum types. Most of what would be pattern matching can be done with just methods.

    Car c = maybeCar.GetValueOr(CreateCar()) // inline fallback 

    maybeDog.Do(d => b.Bark()) // only performs call if present

    Sailboat s = mybeBoat.As<SailBoat>() // none unless of correct subtype

And so on. With nullable reference types C# now has a builtin alternative to this, but it has worked we’ll for many years.