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I can't help but feel like criticisms along the lines of "you have to be more precise with what you want, because unlike python it won't let you get away with blah" and praise like "it seems to run correctly as soon as it compiles" are two sides of the same coin.

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They are, for sure. The difference, I'd say, is that compared to most other mostly-static compiled languages, Go generally feels a bit more velvet glove about it, rather than iron fist. The language principle of warnings are errors really helps here, as you tend to figure out potential issues sooner rather than later, and via a clear error message rather than subtle misbehavior.

Also, if you're using Google App Engine SDK it can compile in realtime (i.e. every time you save a file in the project). So if you have one terminal open to the dev server process and another for your editor, you get instant feedback each time you save. It's a very Pavlovian experience :)

If you use vim, the syntastic[1] plugin has go support and gives you this sort of feedback directly in the editor (for any go code, not just app-engine -- and many other languages) every time you save.

[1] https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic

Thanks!

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