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Comment by gitgud | Hacker News Reader

Slightly off topic: Why was the language named "Go"?

I originally assumed that it was an abbreviation of Google (where it was developed) but I can't seem to find an information confirming that...

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I recall reading that one of the reasons was the fact that "go" sounded good

1. when used as a keyword to start a "goroutine"

  go f()

2. when used from the command line for compilation etc.

  go build ...
  go get ...

At one point the Go FAQ said that Go got its name because “Ogle” would be a good name for a Go debugger [1]. This was removed from the FAQ as a "non-answer" in 2015 [2]. I suspect the real reason is that it was a slightly risque joke...

Of course the Go keyword go is a constant reminder of Go's strong support for concurrency. (Note too the goroutine/coroutine pun.) It would be interesting to know which came first, the keyword or the name.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5182658 2. https://github.com/golang/go/commit/e4bd8e04087ac9e7c8b754df...

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