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The curse of tools applies in computing too. A virtue of languages like Go is that they reduce incidental and gratuitous complexity through the simplicity of the language. A complex language with a powerful type system like Rust or C++ will tempt programmers to use every facet of the language and create baroque overly complex code.

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Sounds like an argument for C, honestly. After all, that complexity is either in the language, or solved on a case by case basis. Every patch adds complexity, because it reflects changes in the business environment that presents the problem the code is solving.

C is okay except safety. Look at the CVE lists and they are still full of memory errors and it’s 2024.

The problem isn’t that good programmers can’t write good C code, though anyone can make a mistake. The problem is what happens as code ages, is worked on by other people, gets PRs merged, and so on. Bugs creep in and in an unsafe language nothing catches them.

C also makes string processing hellish, but that could be fixed with libraries and isn’t necessarily the fault of the language.

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