• Mar 13 2025: The author tried to write a post yesterday but didn't like the approach. Had a conversation with a best friend last night who encouraged a different way.
• Microsoft and TypeScript: Microsoft announced rewriting the TypeScript compiler in Go. People had many feelings, with common questions being "Why not C#?" and "Why not Rust?". The author thinks choosing a programming language should be based on wanting to write programs in that language.
• Context and Requirements: There are hard requirements sometimes but often they are contextually based. For example, writing an OS in Lisp is possible but not practical in most cases. The author also learned that Microsoft chose Go for porting an existing codebase that looked like Go.
• Go on GitHub: A team member shared that they are the only one with a favorite language as Go and tried Rust early on. They think the "Why Go?" GitHub discussion thread is terrifying and contains weird takes. There are over 370 comments in 24 hours compared to ~450 comments for adding generics to Go in a few months.
• Choose the Right Tool: The author dislikes the "choose the right tool for the job" suggestion as often the wrong tool is chosen due to unrecognized contextual requirements.
• RIIR and Past Incident: The "rewrite it in Rust" meme exists but the author hasn't seen evidence of it being widespread. There was a past incident where the author made fun of someone writing grep in Node, which changed the trajectory of their life. They realized they were influenced by the contempt culture in the Rails world and decided to make Rust a priority and focus on its own merits. The "Rust Community" has changed over time and the author is proud of what they built. In conclusion, people choose programming languages for various reasons and we should avoid being jerks when others make different choices.