Best of Language Design — 2025

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   Article

   stitcher.io·30w

   My wishlist for PHP in 2026

   A PHP developer outlines desired language features for 2026, prioritizing PHP Editions (opt-in breaking changes per namespace inspired by Rust), interface default methods for more flexible code organization, generics for type-safe collections, and structs for simpler data representation. The author acknowledges that backwards compatibility constraints slow feature adoption and create compromises, suggesting editions could enable experimental features and gradual migration. Previously desired features like scalar objects and unified function signatures are deemed unlikely or abandoned.

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   Article

   Go·52w

   No ] syntactic support for error handling - The Go Programming Language

   The Go team has officially decided to stop pursuing syntactic language changes for error handling after years of failed proposals including check/handle, try builtin, and the ? operator. Despite error handling verbosity being the top complaint in user surveys, none of the proposed solutions gained sufficient community consensus. The team will focus on library-based solutions and tooling improvements instead, closing future syntax-focused error handling proposals without investigation.

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   Video

   ThePrimeTime·50w

   Why Go Will NEVER Fix Error Handling

   The Go team has officially decided to stop pursuing syntactic changes for error handling after years of failed proposals. Despite error handling verbosity being the top complaint in user surveys, multiple attempts including check/handle mechanisms, try functions, and Rust-inspired question mark operators failed to achieve community consensus. The team cites the difficulty of reaching agreement among users, the cost of language changes, and arguments that current error handling works adequately. They will focus on library improvements instead of syntax changes for the foreseeable future.

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   Video

   ThePrimeTime·1y

   I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!

   The author expresses frustration with various programming languages and their handling of syntax and formatting. They specifically criticize Go for its inconsistent handling of new lines and JavaScript for its scientific notation in parseInt. Additionally, the author highlights frustrations with Lua's 'elseif' syntax and JavaScript's use of lambdas, arguing that some design choices in languages lead to increased complexity and inefficiency.

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   Article

   Lobsters·29w

   Why I don't love Rust (either)

   A detailed critique of Rust's design decisions from a developer who uses it regularly. Covers syntax inconsistencies, control flow complexity, error handling trade-offs, implicit closure captures, language bloat through intrinsics, unpredictable code generation, unsafe code semantics, async/await color problems, and ecosystem fragmentation. Argues that while Rust offers benefits over C++, it makes compromises that create friction in real-world systems programming.

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