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Pharo VS Go Programming Language

Compare Pharo VS Go Programming Language and see what are their differences

Pharo logo Pharo

Pharo is a pure object-oriented programming language and a powerful environment, focused on...

Go Programming Language logo Go Programming Language

Go, also called golang, is a programming language initially developed at Google in 2007 by Robert...
  • Pharo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-26
  • Go Programming Language Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-06

Pharo features and specs

  • Integrated Development Environment
    Pharo offers a highly integrated development environment with powerful tools like the inspector, debugger, and playgrounds, enhancing the overall development experience.
  • Live Code Changes
    Pharo supports live coding, allowing developers to make changes and see the effects immediately without the need to stop and restart the application.
  • Rich Libraries
    Pharo comes with a comprehensive set of libraries and frameworks, reducing the need to search for external dependencies and allowing for rapid development.
  • Object-Oriented Language
    Pharo is a true object-oriented language, which makes it natural for modeling real-world scenarios and leveraging the power of polymorphism and inheritance.
  • Community and Support
    Pharo has an active and supportive community that contributes to continuous improvements, tutorials, documentation, and libraries.

Possible disadvantages of Pharo

  • Niche Ecosystem
    Pharo's ecosystem is relatively small compared to more mainstream programming languages, which might make it harder to find libraries, tools, and examples for specific needs.
  • Learning Curve
    Pharo can have a steep learning curve, especially for developers not familiar with Smalltalk or the unique aspects of its environment.
  • Limited Job Market
    Compared to more popular languages like JavaScript or Python, the job market for Pharo developers is limited, potentially making it less attractive for career-oriented developers.
  • Performance Constraints
    While suitable for many kinds of applications, Pharo’s performance might not be on par with languages specifically optimized for high-performance computing or low-level system programming.
  • Documentation
    Although improving, Pharo's documentation may not be as extensive or as easy to navigate as that of more widely-used programming languages, which can be challenging for new users.

Go Programming Language features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Go's syntax is simple and consistent, making it easy to learn and use. This simplicity reduces the cognitive load on developers and leads to more readable and maintainable code.
  • Concurrency
    Go provides built-in support for concurrent programming with goroutines and channels, which are easier to use compared to threads and locks in many other languages. This makes it well-suited for developing concurrent and distributed systems.
  • Performance
    Go is a statically typed and compiled language, which allows it to deliver good performance that is competitive with languages like C and C++. The fast compilation times also improve developer productivity.
  • Standard Library
    Go comes with a rich standard library that includes packages for a wide range of applications, from web servers to cryptographic functions. This reduces the need to rely on third-party libraries.
  • Static Typing
    Static typing in Go helps catch errors at compile time rather than at runtime, leading to more robust and reliable code. It also makes the code easier to understand and maintain.
  • Cross-Platform Compilation
    Go supports cross-compilation, allowing developers to easily compile code for multiple operating systems from a single development machine. This is particularly useful for cloud and server applications.
  • Garbage Collection
    The built-in garbage collector helps manage memory automatically, which simplifies memory management and helps prevent memory leaks and other memory-related issues.
  • Strong Tooling
    Go comes with a suite of powerful development tools, including gofmt for code formatting, godoc for documentation, and race detector for detecting race conditions. These tools enhance development efficiency and code quality.

Possible disadvantages of Go Programming Language

  • Lack of Generics
    As of now, Go does not support generics, which means developers often have to write more boilerplate code and may encounter difficulties in writing reusable components.
  • Verbose Error Handling
    Go's error handling can be verbose and repetitive since it does not support exceptions. Developers have to check for and handle errors explicitly after every operation that can fail, leading to more boilerplate code.
  • Limited Standard GUI Library
    Go's standard library lacks built-in support for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). This makes it less suitable for desktop application development compared to languages that have robust GUI libraries.
  • Young Ecosystem
    Compared to more mature languages like Java or Python, Go has a relatively younger ecosystem. This means fewer third-party libraries and frameworks, which can limit the options available to developers.
  • Simplistic Type System
    While Go's simple type system makes it easy to learn, it can be restrictive for some tasks. The lack of advanced features like inheritance and generics can make certain types of code harder to write and less expressive.
  • Community Support
    The Go community, while growing, is still smaller compared to major programming languages like Python or JavaScript. This can make it harder to find community support, libraries, and developers with Go expertise.
  • No Tuples
    Go does not support tuples, which are useful for returning multiple values from functions and performing certain data manipulations more easily and expressively.
  • Dependency Management
    Although Go Modules have addressed some issues, dependency management in Go has historically been a pain point and can still be less intuitive compared to other ecosystems.

Analysis of Pharo

Overall verdict

  • Pharo is generally considered good, especially for developers who appreciate a clean, object-oriented programming environment. Its benefits include ease of use, powerful development tools, and an active support community, which make it a strong candidate for many programming projects.

Why this product is good

  • Pharo is an open-source, dynamically-typed programming language and environment that is focused on simplicity and immediate feedback. It's built around the idea of live coding and offers powerful tools for software development, including a modern version of the Smalltalk language. It is particularly appreciated for its elegant syntax, object-oriented design, and innovative development environment which allows for immediate testing and debugging. Pharo also has a strong and active community, providing support and a library of resources and packages.

Recommended for

  • Developers interested in object-oriented programming
  • Individuals looking for a live coding environment
  • Educational purposes and teaching programming concepts
  • Projects that require rapid prototyping and iteration
  • Developers who enjoy experimenting with new languages and paradigms

Analysis of Go Programming Language

Overall verdict

  • Go is a solid and efficient programming language, particularly valued in environments where performance, scalability, and ease of deployment are essential. Its design philosophy emphasizes simplicity and productivity, making it a desirable choice for both beginner and experienced developers.

Why this product is good

  • The Go Programming Language, designed by Google, is known for its simplicity, efficiency, and strong support for concurrent programming. It features garbage collection, memory safety, and structural typing, making it a robust choice for building scalable and high-performance applications. The language's syntax is clean and easy to learn, and it comes with a comprehensive standard library. Additionally, Go is open-source and has a thriving community and ecosystem, which continuously contributes to its growth and improvement.

Recommended for

  • Developers building web servers and network tools
  • Teams focused on microservices architecture
  • Projects requiring high-performance applications
  • Organizations needing efficient concurrency handling
  • Programs interfacing directly with hardware or kernel-level processes

Pharo videos

Black Ops 3 In Depth: Pharo Burst Fire SMG Review (Best SMG?)

Go Programming Language videos

No Go Programming Language videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Pharo and Go Programming Language)
Programming Language
20 20%
80% 80
OOP
24 24%
76% 76
Generic Programming Language
Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Go Programming Language should be more popular than Pharo. It has been mentiond 323 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Pharo mentions (34)

  • The Xerox Alto, Smalltalk, and Rewriting a Running GUI
    Someone replied to one of my recent posts with this modern Smalltalk implementation: https://pharo.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 2 days ago
  • Ask HN: How Are Parents Who Program Teaching Their Kids Today?
    There is a turtle graphics framework in the Python standard library: https://docs.python.org/3/library/turtle.html Pharo is a cross-platform implementation of the classic Smalltalk-80 programming language and runtime system: https://pharo.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 days ago
  • _M2dir: Treating mails as files without going crazy
    Pharo/SmallTalk seem to also explore the ideas akin to this. (https://pharo.org/) to be fair the current state of affairs is similar enough with file extensions + mime info if you squint hard enough and pretend that app and systems folders files don't exist but it's held with pinky promises. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Enlightenmentware
    Smalltalk and as a particular case Pharo is an example of this for me. (https://pharo.org/). When I was in uni a paper that I always came back to was Licklider's 1960s paper on human-computer symbiosis (https://worrydream.com/refs/Licklider_1960_-_Man-Computer_Symbiosis.pdf) "[...]to enable men and computers to cooperate in making decisions and controlling complex situations without inflexible dependence on... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Why don't schools teach debugging, or, more fundamentally, fundamentals?
    I think in part it's because the idea that programming is text and math-based is too ingrained in society. For example, we talk about programming languages. But IMO there are also programming systems such as Smalltalk [1]. I've programmed 2 years professionally in it, currently looking for an engagement in a different language (a curiosity thing, also a resume thing). I think Smalltalk has a lot to offer by... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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Go Programming Language mentions (323)

  • Tracking Postgres "fsyncs" with bpftrace
    The script for making the fsync call is written in Golang here. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • Building Event-Driven Go applications with Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Functions
    The Go programming language is a great fit for building serverless applications. Go applications can be easily compiled to a single, statically linked binary, making deployment simple and reducing external dependencies. They start up quickly, which is ideal for serverless environments where functions are frequently invoked from a cold start. Go applications also tend to use less memory compared to other languages,... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • The Beauty of Go, Introduction
    This series is about Go, a simple, yet powerful, language that has some unique features in its design. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Go for Node developers: creating an IDP from scratch - Set-up
    Nowadays, due to performance constraints a lot of companies are moving away from NodeJS to Go for their network and API stacks. This series is for developers interest in making the jump from Node.js to Go. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Testing SingleStore's MCP Server
    To use MCPHost, we'll need to install Go. For example, on an Apple Mac with Homebrew, this is as simple as:. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pharo and Go Programming Language, you can also consider the following products

Smalltalk - Smalltalk is an object-oriented programming (OOP) language. It is objects all the way down.

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

Pike programming language - Dynamic programming language with a syntax similar to Java and C

C++ - Has imperative, object-oriented and generic programming features, while also providing the facilities for low level memory manipulation

Crystal (programming language) - Programming language with Ruby-like syntax that compiles to efficient native code.

D (Programming Language) - D is a language with C-like syntax and static typing.