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@cdoxsey - Nice work, but you might link to an installer that doesn't include a text editor. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the target audience already has their preferred text editor installed.

Edit: After reading the first few chapters, I made a false assumption. It looks like the book is aimed at people new to computing (or, at least, it doesn't make the assumption that the reader has programmed before).



http://golang.org/doc/install

I guess the target audience is programming novices who have never written anything like source code before. Go seems like a strange choice for a first language, being neither foundational (C, Assembler, Scheme/Lisp) nor front-end scripty (JS, Logo, Scratch).


I don't know much about the US, but in Europe the majority of colleges is now teaching either java or C++ as the first language, and only a minority is teaching scripting languages as PHP. I guess it's easier for students to understand higher-level languages and to transport their knowledge to other languages (or, at least, it was easy for me).


I agree about C++ or Java in colleges.

I would add that in high schools we are still taught Pascal here in Poland. I was 15 years ago, and I heard that Pascal is still the first language.


More that it is easier for a classroom to teach an old stable language than invest in new things that might not last. It is rare to see an accomplished programmer who started writing any code in Java... most started with JS (younger folks) or educational environments like Logo/Scratch or super simple envs like Basic.


"It is rare to see an accomplished programmer who started writing any code in Java" are you serious? I know a lot [here in DC]. I personally started with Pascal->C->Java->(all the scripts)->C#


That's not starting in Java.




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