HackerTube.dev

dotGo 2015 - Rob Pike - Simplicity is Complicated

dotconferences · 172.2K views · 2015-12-02 · 23:12

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

Rob Pike's dotGo 2015 talk argues that Go only seems simple, and that its simplicity hides real complexity that is part of the design. He explains the thinking behind Go's restraint in features.

On Hacker News

HN returns to it to explain why Go deliberately resists syntactic sugar and new features.

Recommended by 7 HN people across 7 months · HN mentions 2016–2023

Topics

C, C++, Rust, Go & systems languagesProgramming language design
Search by tags
gorob pikesimplicitylanguage designdotgo

What people said

yandrypozo · 2020-08 · Recommendation

the key is simplicity, you're complaining about language features that allow you to write "fun" code, but remember that we spend around 80% of the time reading or debugging code, the main focus of Go is about writing code that's easy to read which will allow you to scale a project or source code with more people, also remember that easy doesn't mean simple, I think these 2 talks will make you understand my idea a little bit better: [VIDEO] [LINK]

Read the original HN comment ↗
hartzell · 2020-03 · Recommendation

> Go just hides the complexity from initial inspection. If you (parent, other readers) haven't seen it, Rob Pike's "Simplicity is complicated" is a good discussion of just this point. video: [VIDEO] slides: [LINK]

Read the original HN comment ↗
zubspace · 2019-07 · Recommendation

Recently the Go team decided not to add the try-keyword to the language. I'm not a Go programmer and was a bit stumped by the decision until I saw a talk of Rob Pike regarding the fundamental principle of Go to stick to simplicity first. [1] One of the takeaways is, that most languages and their features converge to a point, where each language contains all the features of the other languages. C++, Java and C# are primary examples. At the same time complexity increases. Go is different, because of the simplicity first rule. It easens the burden on the programmer and on the maintainer. I think python would definitely profit from such a mindset. [1] [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by dotconferences, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources