It's definitely possibly to write obfuscated ridiculous code without the ternary operator -- but I think that's part of the whole "go-lang mentality".
Would I leave unused declarations in production code? No.
Do I have a problem with a compiler that doesn't let me test code with a function call commented out without also commenting out all the other variables/functions that are now unused as a result? Yes.
> I'm at the point where I suspect complaints about the ternary operator are a cargo cult repetition thing, and the developers who are scared of it are scared because they were either taught by someone else to be scared, or they're suffering from a confirmation bias problem where they notice confusing conditionals more when they're associated with the operator.
I definitely don't think Rob Pike and Ken Thompson are getting confused -- it's more like they took a utilitarian view of the situation and decided - if the average code-base is made better or easier to read by this change, then it's worth it.
The over-all result is a language that appears to be easy to pick up and productive at least for those who use it - but it's hardly exciting or fun to code in.