Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has released version 1.0 of its new programming language today. The new language, entitled Go, is designed to replace the multitude of existing languages that it says do not provide developers everything they need in a single package. The release was made today along with a new app SDK for Google marking the first break into popular availability for the new language. The release should be at the very least divisive. New programming standards aren’t all that common and the release of a new one by Google will make a splash in the developing community. The language was initially begun as a project inside Google in 2007. Such projects often do not see the light of public day but Google ran with this one and announced it officially as a coming project in 2009.
The new language should compete with and complement the existing standards, the most popular of which are C++, Java, Python and Javascript. All of the languages have different strengths and different goals. Go is Google’s attempt to unify a great deal of programming into a single unified whole by delivering a better user experience. On the official page for the language Google says that three main attributes of a language are not given by any single language. Google names those as easy compilation, efficient execution and ease of programming. According to the search giant thee current state of affairs leaves users trying to pick and choose between which factors they need.
Go is an attempt to change that. Google envisions a coming together of all of the principles of great design in order to create a language that would satisfy programmers and make it easier to work in the area. Whether or not they achieve this on a technical level it is hard to say but initial testing shows the version released today certainly increased stability. The company could use its Android platform to encourage development in the new code. If it manages the first stage and gets the language adopted by a group of committed users it may snowball as greater knowledge of a languages workings allow greater accessibility to more programmers.
What Google hopes to gain from the money it has pumped into the development of the platform is difficult to see. The company is known for offering its services at a monetary zero and collecting revenues in the form of advertisement gains. It is clear that model shouldn’t work with a programming language.
