> Go is created to replace C, a system programming language which could be considered as a niche. You see popular Go projects specifically addressing system level stuff (infrastructure: packer.io, docker, etc).

I'd go a bit further. Go was written to replace C++ when used for servers at google and it excels in that spot. It is not meant to replace C for kernels.

" ...C, a system programming language which could be considered as a niche"

wow

C is now a niche language?

http://langpop.com

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index....

etc

Go was created to do the systems programming tasks people used C++ for. But what has resulted is that very few C++ users have switched to Go. It's mostly been Ruby/Python programmers and they are using Go for network programming, not systems programming. It's just another bit of proof that language designers, no matter how brilliant they are, such as Ken Thompson and Rob Pike, almost never know who is going to adopt their language and what it will be used for.

You can use C on microcontrollers though, and go is not a good replacement there.

Surely systems programming is more popular than web? As you need a system to access the web, but not every system accesses the web...?

What can I do in Rails that I can't do in PHP?