Learning Go Is for Stupid People

When I started programming, JavaScript felt like the obvious choice. Everyone around me used it, so naturally, I dove in headfirst. But pretty soon, I realized it wasn't clicking for me. I kept running into things that should've felt simple, like async code and promises, but instead felt needlessly complicated.

The chaining of functions, like .then() and .catch(), made my head spin. Every piece of code I read seemed different from the last. I'd open someone else's repository, and suddenly I had to understand React, or Vue, or Express, or some other tool I hadn't used before. Instead of writing code, I was busy reading docs just to figure out the basics of how someone else's project even worked.

That's when I found Go. Honestly, at first, I thought it looked weird. But the more I used it, the more it just made sense. Go doesn't try to be fancy or clever. The language is verbose, and everything's explicit. At first glance, this might look unnecessary, especially compared to JavaScript's flexibility. But that's exactly why I like it.

The thing about Go is that it's easy to read. I don't have to guess what's happening or rely on magic behind the scenes. Error handling, for instance, makes total sense to me. In Go, an error is just a value that's returned explicitly. I check it directly, using a straightforward if err != nil. Compared to JavaScript's try-catch mechanism, this feels so much clearer. It fits perfectly with the way I naturally think about programming.

Another reason Go appealed to me is that it's opinionated. It has a defined standard for formatting code, clear ways of managing dependencies, and one powerful standard library. It means I don't have to spend mental energy choosing between hundreds of libraries or frameworks. I just code.

Because of Go's consistency, reading other people's projects became a breeze. Every Go repository I opened followed similar patterns. I could immediately understand the structure, the logic, and how everything fit together. This simplicity gave me confidence, and I started to feel like I was actually good at programming.

I'm not saying JavaScript is bad. It’s clearly powerful and useful. But Go is built for people like me, who get easily overwhelmed by too many choices or cryptic syntax. Go fits the way my brain works: straightforward, clear, and predictable.

Maybe I’m just stupid. But that's fine, because for me, learning Go has turned that stupidity into a strength.