Gophers Say! GopherCon Edition

Hello, and welcome to this Go Time GopherCon extravaganza… Yeah, extravaganza, yeah. I’m Mat Ryer, and I’m thrilled to announce that today again we’re playing Gophers Say, the excellent, popular, family game show based on Family Feud, or Family Fortunes if you’re in the U.K, which I am.

Let’s meet the teams. We have Team Zero, is – well, let’s meet our contestants here. We’ve got Julie Qiu around… Hello, Julie.

Hi!

Welcome to Go Time/GopherCon. We’ve also got Steve Francia. I can’t believe it. Hi, Steve.

Hi, everyone.

I can’t believe you’re here, Steve, really. Can you?

I mean, I’m here…

Well, you won a competition, so congrats. Jon Calhoun is also here. Jon.

Hey, Mat. How are you?

Hi, Jon. I’m good, mate. I’m excited. Are you gonna win?

[03:59] I don’t know.

That’s a good answer. An honest answer.

If my team carries me, I’ll win. But if my team doesn’t carry me, I probably won’t.

Okay, good. So he’s not gonna be pulling his own weight there. Well, Natalie Pistunovich is in town. Hello, Natalie.

Hi, Mat.

Welcome back. Are you looking forward to the game show?

I’m very excited to be the one person who is aware of the rules, yes.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because I already played it.

Yes. Please remind me if I forget, as well. Katie Hockman also around. Hello, Katie. Welcome. How are you doing?

I’m good. I’m very excited to win, despite Jon not believing that we can.

Ah, okay. Well, you’ll have to carry him. That’s it. Rob Findley is also here, aren’t you, Rob?

I am. Hi, Mat.

Hey. Welcome to the Gopher Time/Go Time Mashup. Yeah, don’t worry, I said it wrong on purpose. I need to tell you about this game that we’re gonna play, because it’s lovely. Essentially, we’ve asked a load of gophers some questions, and you’ll have to try and guess the answers. So you’re trying to match the popular answers from the survey. It’s not about right or wrong, it’s just about what gophers say. That’s why it’s called Gophers Say.

The top answers will go on the board. Any response that had five or more answers will appear on the board, and in order to get control of the board, each team has to do a face-off, basically, where you’ll just have a guess and see the highest score, and that’s how you’ll take control of the board. Once you’ve got control, you have to then guess all the other answers, and then you’ll win. That’s how you win, you get points. But be warned, if you get three of them wrong, you’ll lose three lives, and you’ll give the other team a chance to steal, and they’ll be able to take your points, essentially. So don’t let that happen.

You cannot confer through the game, but while you’re stealing, you can confer, and I’ll remind you of that later. Do we feel like we’re ready to play? I’m gonna announce the teams that we have here.

So team zero - it’s Natalie, Steve and Julie. You are our first team, team zero.

Woo-hoo!

Woo-hoo!

There you go. And you know, don’t take anything by the fact that zero is in the name of your team; it’s literally just zero-bound, like with the Go slice. That’s why I’ve done that. Jon, Katie and Rob, team one. You’re our second team.

Go team one!

Katie apparently isn’t happy. [laughter]

It’s one for the first place, yeah.

Very happy.

Yeah. Okay, good. They’re definitely happy, we’ve been assured of that verbally. Okay, we’re gonna now look at the board, we’re gonna show the screen… Can we see this? I’m gonna jump into our first round here… Natalie and Jon, you’re gonna go face to face; we’re gonna have an interface-off, if you like puns… Natalie, what would your guess be to this question: “Describe the Go community with just one word.” What did most people say when they were asked to describe the Go community with just one word?

Welcoming.

Welcoming. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, it’s on the board, in number two. Nine points there. So Jon, you’re gonna have a guess. If you beat Natalie, you have to get that number one spot. You’ll take control of the board.

Natalie stole my answer, and I don’t know if my back-up is… I guess – is “friendly” the same as “welcoming”? I don’t know how that would be categorized.

Let’s see if friendly is on there. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, friendly… And where is it? At number three.

Wooooh!

Natalie’s team, team zero, takes control. And we’re over to Steve Francia. Steve… How’s it going, Steve? Are you gonna have a guess? What do you think the Go community said about this?

[08:05] I was gonna say welcoming and friendly…

Okay…

But those have been taken. So I’m gonna say “good-looking”. No, it’s two words… Attractive.

[laughs] Okay. Gophers say… [fail sound] Oh, no, I’m sorry. Attractive was not on the board. You lose a life. But don’t worry, you’ve got two other lives.

It should have been. It should have been.

Agree, yeah. Julie, would you wanna have a guess?

I’m gonna say “fabulous”.

Fabulous, okay. Gophers say… [fail sound] Oh, sorry. Nobody said it was fabulous. Well, five or more people didn’t say that. We’ll loop back around… Natalie, what do you think?

Inclusive.

Inclusive. Gophers say… [fail sound] No. Nobody said inclusive. And that’s your third and final life gone, I’m afraid… So now the other team, team one, have a chance to steal. You can confer. I just need one answer from you, Jon, the team captain, after you’ve conferred with your team.

Alright. From my team, does anybody think the word “gopher” might be on the board?

I don’t know…

The Go community is gopher?

That, or like programmer, or like nerdy…

I was gonna say diverse…

Yeah, I think diverse…

That’s a good one.

Okay, is that gonna be the answer you’d like to submit?

Are we going with diverse?

Do you wanna lock it in?

Yeah.

Okay, we’re locking diverse in.

Okay, we’re gonna lock diverse in. Gophers say… [fail sound]

What?!

No, I’m afraid not. You did not steal. Let’s reveal the board. Number six was “opinionated”. Five people said that.

It makes sense.

And at number five, we have “fun”, with six people. And in position number four, we had “helpful”, seven people said that. In position three we have “friendly” with eight people, “welcoming” is in position two with nine people, and at number one it is “awesome”, and that was said by 17 people.

Wow…

There we go.

We’re getting off to a rough start.

Yeah.

Isn’t it the same as fabulous?

Yeah, I was gonna say, “awesome” is fabulous, right?

[laughs]

Yeah. Well, there we go. Let’s move on to our next round. Okay, round two… Name a place outside your house where you like to code/work. This time it’s Steve versus Katie going face to face, to find out who controls the board. Steve, I’ll ask you after Katie. Katie, what’s your answer?

Wait, so it’s me first?

Yeah.

Okay. I had two guesses… I will say “coffee shop.”

“Coffee shop.” Good one, I think… Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, of course. And it’s the top answer…

Yaaay!

That means that Steve doesn’t even get to have a guess. You’ve basically snapped his dream out of the clutches of his tiny –

And I was gonna say coffee shop, so…

There we go.

Good one.

Yeah, good one. Okay… Right, so - now it’s Rob’s turn to have a guess. You’ve got three lives, Rob… What do you think?

Okay. We used to work in offices… So how about the office?

Okay, let’s find out. The office. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, indeed. In at number three, “the office”, with 21 people. By the way, 38 people said “coffee shop”. Very cool. Alright, John, three lives still. Going strong. Where do you like to code/work?

[12:02] I’m gonna go with “park”.

In the park, how beautiful. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, indeed. Number two. Park/garden/yard. 26 people. Okay, Katie - you’ve still got your three lives…

I don’t do this, because I watch movies instead, but I know a lot of people who do… I’m gonna say “airplane”.

Oh, airplane. Gophers say… [fail sound]

Ugh…

No, nobody does that outside – they don’t tend to do that, apparently. They watch movies too, I guess. You lose a life, but that’s okay. You’ve got two more lives. Rob, what do you think?

Okay, how about the beach? Some people work at the beach.

Oh, do they? Well, let’s see. Gophers say… [fail sound] No. Have you met a programmer at the beach?

Well, yeah…

Yeah, there’s some cool ones, aren’t there? Not in this survey, mate…

Not me.

Not me either. Okay, Jon, back around to you, talking to cool people… What do you think?

Oh, boy… I’m gonna guess campground.

Campground. Okay. Gophers say… [fail sound] No. I can’t believe no one’s going camping, setting up a tent, sorting out the electric, sort out the water, look up the local amenities…

I figured if everybody’s going remote, they’re gonna go camping and working.

And just get some code written. They’re not doing that. I can’t believe it. Katie, what do you think?

I always have a life left…

One life left…

Oh, gosh. I thought we were dead, so I wasn’t even thinking… [laughs] Pressure’s on… Um, I was gonna say –

They are good, they’ve had three x’es.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Mat, are you good?

Oh, okay.

We did die three times, so I’m pretty sure…

Yeah, that’s a mistake by me then. Okay. Okay, that means –

Mat started counting at zero.

Yeah, thank you for getting me out of it… Okay, unfortunately that was your last life, so that means the other team get to steal. You can confer, and Natalie, I’ll take your answer. What do you think?

So we get to talk to each other right now?

yes.

Yes, we get to decide together.

What about library?

I thought train.

I was thinking train, too. Train and library.

That’s because you live in the U.S. [laughs] Maybe most of the people who took the survey live in the U.S. How about a co-working space? Is that like the office?

Hm…

Okay, I’m gonna have to take an answer.

I think four, five and six are co-working space, library and train.

Okay.

By this order? [laughs]

Well, I don’t know… Any of those sound good to me, Natalie. You choose.

Yeah.

Natalie…?

I was about Julie “What do you think?”, but okay. Yeah, let’s try train.

Okay, “train” to steal. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, I’m afraid not… Well, that means the points go to team one. Let’s unload this board then. Number six was “nowhere”. [laughter] People that don’t leave to do any work. That got five answers. In number five it’s the pub or the bar; six people said that. I can’t believe that. And at number four - let’s see if this is one of yours, Steve… Number four was the library, indeed. 14 people.

Wow…!

That’s okay, don’t worry though… It’s going well, we’ve got team zero have 17 points, team one are forging ahead with 85 points. Let’s go on to round three…

Okay, round three. The question we asked our gophers is “The most useful Go keyword is what?” What is the most useful Go keyword? What did people say? We’re gonna find out which team takes control of the board when Julie and Rob go head to head… Julie, this time.

Oh, boy… Um, switch.

Switch. Gophers say… [fail sound] No.

Sorry.

That’s okay, you just lose one life, no problem. Rob, you have to have a guess. Actually, Julie, you don’t lose a life. We’re just still finding out who’s gonna take control… So Rob, you have to get one of these to take the board.

Well, you can’t switch without a func, so I’m gonna say func.

Func indeed. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, indeed, at number two. Eighteen people said func was the most useful Go keyword. And that means team one steals the control of the board, takes it. Jon Calhoun, what do you think the most useful Go keyword is? What do you think our Gophers said?

This is one of those ones where I just expect people to not name keywords as answers…

[laughs] Why would that be, Jon? That’s very unusual.

Like, if you asked me to list all the Go keywords, I couldn’t list them all. I’d definitely get something wrong.

But you could do some of them, right?

I’m gonna go with select…

Select. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, indeed. Down at number six. Seven people said select. Nice work. Okay, Katie, what do you think? Return would be very useful. Let’s see if the Gophers said it. Gophers say… [fail sound] No…! And it honestly shocks me that that’s not on there.

Everybody needs that… [laughs]

What are their programs?

You need to return…

Well, we can’t figure that out now, Rob. You’ve got two lives still, so… What do you think?

Okay. I think people will have just heard the word Go, so they’ll say “go”.

Okay, that’s how much respect you have for the audience of Gophers that have answered this…

It’s useful.

Yeah. It is useful. Let’s find out if they’ve said it. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes. And look at this - top answer. 29 people said that “go” was the most useful Go keyword. Very cool, indeed. Two lives, and it’s Jonny Calhoun. Go on, Jon. Do a guess.

Var?

[20:01] Var… Good one.

I mean, how else are you gonna create those globals?

Good point.

…that everybody loves.

[laughs] Trollin’. Gophers say… [fail sound] No. You lose another life. You have one more life. Katie, that life sits delicately in your hand. Are you gonna set it free, or crush it to death more? What’s your guess?

I’m between two, so I’m gonna go with – I think people said “if”.

If. Gophers say… [fail sound] No. These programmers are very certain. There’s no uncertainty.

Apparently…

Yeah, yeah. They know what they’re doing. This is not like “Yeah, if this…” Make your mind up.

These are interesting programs.

That was your last life, I’m afraid… This gives the other team, team zero, a chance to steal. Please confer amongst yourselves, and then Natalie, team captain, I’ll take an answer after you’ve conferred with your team.

Alright, this time we’re doing this right…

Yes, please.

What do you think?

I think it’s “defer”.

I was thinking of that, too.

I was thinking “panic” or “type”, but I’ll defer to you two…

[laughs] This was meant to be. Let’s go with “defer”.

Oh, excellent. I don’t know when to do this now… I feel like we need to wait for the end of the game show before I announce this one… I’m just kidding.

[laughs]

Defer. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes!

Yaay!

You’ve successfully stolen! Third space there, with 11 people, “defer”. And you steal the points. 65 delicious points coming your way.

Oh, it’s so close.

So team zero is now on 82, team one is on 85. Let’s reveal the rest of this board then. What was the most useful Go keyword? Number seven, people said “struct”, five people said that. At number six was “select”, with seven people. Number five is “interface”, nine people said that. At number four, “for”. Clue is in the number… Ten people said so. And defer was at number three, with 11 people, func in spot two, 18 people, and go at number one there, with 29 people.

Wow, things are heating up here… 82 and 85 it’s not much in it is there? Now we’ve built some tension… It’s time to go to round four! Pam-param-pam-pam-pow! Right… What are we doing again…? What are we doing again? Okay, the next question… The best thing about the tech industry is - what? What is the best thing about the tech industry. And it’s Natalie and Jon to go head to head… Jon, what’s your guess? What’s the best thing about the tech industry?

The paycheck?

The paycheck. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, at number two. The pay/benefits. 20 people there. Interesting. Okay, Natalie, can you beat that? Can you find that number one spot?

Twitter?

Twitter. [laughter]

It’s my honest answer…

Gophers say… [fail sound] No, I’m afraid. No one gets that. That means team one take control of the board. Katie, we’re over to you… Three lovely lives. Don’t ruin them. What’s your guess?

I think people would have said “the people”.

The people. That’d be nice, if they people said “the people”. Let’s see - did the people say “the people”? Gophers say… [win sound] Yes indeed, at number four. The people or the community that they’re in. 15 people said that. That’s very nice, isn’t it? Rob, can you find a nicer one than that? Or just any?

[23:53] I don’t know about that, but… How about the fact that we get to program? How about the work?

Oh, the work itself, programming. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, indeed. People did say that. Problem-solving, we grouped into that. 19 people, at number three, yes.

Generous.

Very cool. Three lives still. Jonny Calhoun…

I’m gonna go with the impact.

The impact.

You can impact more people.

Okay, the impact - did they say that? Let’s find out. Gophers say… [win sound] They did indeed say “impact”. They said “opportunity” or “the impact to make a change”, things like that. Ain’t that nice? Eight people there, and it was at number six. And still, three lives… This is looking good. Katie, can you keep up the running streak of success?

I don’t know if I can… I feel like the thing I wanna say is probably within the category of benefits. I was gonna say “flexibility”…

Hm, okay… Yeah, flexibility. Let’s see if it’s up there. Gophers say… [win sound] Well done. Yeah, work from home, or flexibility. Ten people said that. I’ll tell you what - I genuinely thought this was probably gonna be the hardest question, and you’ve really just nailed this. Very impressive. Rob, I think we’re back around to you, aren’t we?

I’m mystified. I have no idea. I was gonna say flexibility. I don’t know, how about the opportunity to grow?

Okay, let’s see…

I don’t know, I’m doubtful.

Let’s see if more than 20 people said “opportunity to grow.” Gophers say… [fail sound] No. And you lose a life. But it’s okay, you’ve got two other lives, so Jon and Katie are both gonna get a guess here… Starting with you, Jonny Calhoun, down at the local saloon… What do you think?

I am equally mystified… I don’t know, I’m gonna go with Go.

The language, Go.

Go.

The best thing.

The best thing about the tech industry is Go.

Okay, let’s see. Maybe Gophers did say that. Let’s see, Gophers say…? [fail sound] No, I’m afraid not. You lose your life. Katie, the last life, to prevent the steal…

Oh, no, that was gonna be my guess… [laughs] I don’t know…

You’re very close with that answer, apparently…

Okay… Coding?

Okay, let’s do it. Let’s find out. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, I’m afraid not. So that means the other team get a chance to steal. Can you get this right, team? Please confer.

My idea is conferences.

Me too!

Okay! Steve?

I was gonna say travel. So I think conferences is great.

Yeah.

Cool. Okay. So that’s our answer.

Okay, conferences… Let’s see if it’s conferences. Is it conferences? Gophers say… [fail sound] Oh, no…! I’m afraid not. That means team one steals all those delicious points… And we’ll look at the scores after. The top answer for this one was in fact the tech, the innovation. Tech, or innovation is the best thing about the tech industry.

Okay, so let’s check in with the scores. Team zero, in our slice of team here - team zero has 82 points. But team one out in the lead again, it’s 157 points. You know, celebrate…

Yay!

There we go. Okay, let’s move on, shall we, to the next round. Round five. Daram-pam-pam-pow! Someone else is having a party at their own house by the sound of that… Okay, right. Here we go again. This is round five… This time the question is “The worst thing about the tech industry.” This is what we’re after now - what’s the worst thing about the tech industry? And last time it was Jon and Natalie went head to head, so it’s Steve and Katie. And Steve goes first. Steve, what’s the worst thing?

[28:20] Um, bugs.

Bugs. What a great answer.

Bugs.

Bugs. Yeah. We’ll submit it in your accent then, shall well.

Bugs.

Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, bugs. Bad practices. Okay, yeah. There we go, we’ll give you that one. Bad practices and bugs, things like that. In position four there, 13 people said that. Okay, Katie, can you beat that? There are three other answers ahead of this one.

I feel like no matter what I say, I’m gonna get in trouble for it… [laughs] I’m gonna say this in the most diplomatic way possible… Potentially like the room for growth as far as diversity goes.

Okay, so… Right, diversity being the worst thing currently. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, Katie. Apparently, that’s all sorted.

It’s all done. Fixed it.

Yeah, we’re finished. Put that into the Done column. Okay, so that means team zero - you need it. You’ve taken control of the board. And Julie, it’s your turn. Three lives… Have a guess. What do you think the worst thing about the tech industry is?

Um, I’m gonna say the bad people. The people, but specifically the people who are bad.

The baddies. Bad people. Like villains, and the like. Charlatans.

Yeah.

Scallywags.

Exactly.

Okay. The bad people. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, indeed. So people are saying people or the culture. 14 there, and that was a top answer. Merry, merry festive holidays to everybody. That was a little surprise… And that surprise there means Steve Francia is gonna donate $100 to a charity. That’s what that lovely piece was. Thank you so much, Steve. That’s lovely.

And Natalie - we’re back around to you now. It’s your turn to have a guess. What do you think the worst thing about the tech industry is? Three lives…

Something along the lines of agile, sprints, JIRA… Something there.

Okay. So like management practices, stuff like that.

Yes.

Okay, let’s see if that’s on the board. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, everyone loves all that. Not a problem at all.

Good! It’s not a problem. Alright. That and diversity is all good.

Steve, what do you think? Do you wanna have another guess? You’ve got two lives left still.

I think it’s the hours.

Oh, the hours could be the worst thing about the tech industry. It is nearly 9 PM and I’m hosting a game show… So let’s see what Gophers say. [win sound] Yes, indeed, Steve. Number three there. The pressure and the long hours. 16 people said that. Yeah… Take a break, everyone. Not you though, Julie, because you’re up to answer a question now. You’ve got two lives still… What do you think the worst thing about the tech industry is? We’re looking for that second answer.

Hm… It is very hard. Can I say like the bad impact?

So the evil? Would you class it as evil?

Yes, the evil. Yeah.

Yeah, the negative impact of tech. Okay, let’s see if that’s up there. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, Julie. Not there. Down to one life. Natalie, you’ve got your thought on it, so what are you gonna do? What do you guess? What’s the worst thing about the tech industry?

Bad code was already said, right? That was kind of the bad practices one…

[31:57] Yeah, bad practices in existing code was at number four there. We’ve got number three, the pressure of long hours, and at number one is the people.

Legacy?

Well, that would probably fall under the existing code…

Okay. Oh, man… I’m out of ideas. Um…

Tough one, isn’t it?

Not the people, not the long hours, not the bad practice… Nothing about management then? Did we say that? Is that management practices, that also doesn’t work?

Yeah. That one wasn’t up there either, was it? What are we going to say? Or should we time you out?

Does that mean we get to keep the life? [laughter]

No, it means the other team will get a chance to steal…

Right. Bad documentation?

Okay, let’s go for that then. Bad documentation. Gophers say… [fail sound] No. But what a great guess…! Okay, so now the other team have a chance to steal. Jon, I’ll accept your answer after you confer with your lovely team.

So I’m assuming that if they voted the podcasts, that they would have filtered that one out, right? [laughter] Jerod wouldn’t have let that fly.

Didn’t take conferences out

My idea is like Twitter, Reddit, Hacker News, that kind of – like the social media aspect. What do you guys think?

I was actually thinking Twitter, but Natalie used it for the best things about tech. But I think it’s kind of like people as well - they can be good and bad.

They can be both. I think that’s good. I was also gonna say –

Do we go with like social media, or do we want a specific –

I would hope that they would take either, if that was actually the answer.

Sounds good.

Okay. So let’s go with social media.

Okay. Social media. Let’s find out. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, they didn’t say that, so you don’t steal the points. That means that team zero keeps those lovely points… But let’s find out, what was number two on this one? It was “There’s too much to learn.” There’s too much to learn in this old tech industry of ours, and it’s making us angry. That’s what we’ve learned today.

Okay, I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t have guessed that one. I thought there were some great answers there, everyone… How’s it going so far? Are we having a fun quiz?

Yaay!

Wooh!

This is fun.

I’m realizing that I do not resonate with all the people who took the survey. [laughter] We’ve missed the top two answers several times now, I feel like.

Yeah. It’s surprising; you learn things. It is a surprise. Let’s check in with the scores, shall we? Please? Team zero has got 160 points. Just slightly ahead of team one, who have 157. This is so tight, you won’t believe it… But the next round is Double Points Round! Round six. Let’s go!

Okey-doke, this is the final round for double points. Anyone could win the amazing prize. Any one of the three of you can win this… And then you have to share it, which I’m sure will be no problem.

The question for round six is - we asked people to describe the Go language with just one word. Describe the Go language with just a single, solitary word. What did people say? Julie and Rob, you’re going head to head, starting with Rob. What do you think people said, Rob?

[36:06] I think people said “simple”.

Do you know? Let’s see if people did say “simple”.

I hope.

Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, and it’s the top answer. So it means you take control of the board straight away there… And we’re over to Jon. You’ve got three lives, there are three ones to guess. The top answer is already taken. Simple. What else did people use to describe the Go language, Jon? One word.

I’m gonna go with verbose.

Verbose. Okay. And just for anyone that doesn’t know, verbose is when you use lots of extra words that really aren’t necessary and you don’t need, to try and explain something to somebody, or it could be in documentation… And essentially, you’re using way too many words that’s unnecessary, essentially… And the idea is –

This is what happens when Jerod tells you we have 11 minutes…

Oh, no, 11 minutes to fill? Oh, okay. I won’t carry that joke on then for 11 minutes… That would have been gold.

About being verbose…

Yup. Okay, a good bit of comedy, everyone. We’re all equally guilty. Katie, what do you think?

Is verbose on the board?

I was gonna say…

Oh yeah, I genuinely forgot what we were doing… [fail sound] [laughter]

I’m gonna assume no… Okay…

No, unfortunately… It should be now, after that… So unfortunately - yeah, Jon, you lose a life. Thanks, Katie… Hopefully, we can edit that, so I don’t look like an idiot. [fail sound]

No worries…

No, we can’t apparently… [laughter] Okay, Katie…

Alright, I’m gonna say “fast”.

Fast. The Go language with just one word - fast. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes, indeed. It was in at spot number three there. Nine people said it, so you get 18 points. By the way, for the “simple” answer, because 25 people said it, you’ve got 50 points there. So there’s a lot of points on this board. And with two lives left, Rob’s to guess. Robs?

How about “concrete”?

Concrete. Oh, okay, concrete. Let’s see if people said that; that’d be interesting. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, obviously not, Rob. But good answer. But you lose a life, I’m afraid. Jon, over to you now.

See, this is the problem…

Last life, Jon…

It could be a self-fulfilling prophecy if I lose this for us…

Come on, get in the minds of these surveyed Gophers. You know them by now… You got to know them over a series of five rounds of simple questions; you feel like you know them pretty well… What do you think?

Um, readable?

Readable. I love that answer. Let’s see. Gophers say… [fail sound] No, they did not. That is a surprise. And unfortunately, that was your last life, which means team zero has a chance to steal, and basically win the game if they can get either the second or the fourth answer from this board. You’re allowed to confer, of course… Natalie, I’ll accept your answer after you’ve conferred with your team. What do you think?

What do you say?

Oh, boy…

I think I would say – I’ll give you a few. Efficient…

That was mine!

Secure…

That was what I have in mind.

I mean, it is what it says on the Go website, which I’ve put there. You could also say “fun”. “Fun” is another one. So fun, efficient, secure.

Secure is a good one.

I like efficient.

Efficient? It’s interesting that some of the other questions have seven answers, and this one has only four, so it looks like everybody has the same thing in mind… Or they’ve just dropped out of the questionnaire. Okay, so I guess –

I think anything below five answers gets dropped.

Oh, so it’s actually the other way around. So many answers.

Mm-hm.

Many people answered the same things in this one.

Yeah.

25 people said “simple”, 9 people said “fast”. There’s still two answers to get on the board, positions two and four.

Then how many people said “efficient”?

Shall we find out? Is that your answer?

[40:23] Yes.

Would you like to lock it in?

I would like to lock it in to number two, please. [laughter]

Well, you don’t get to choose… Let’s find out. Efficient. Gophers say… [fail sound] You’ve been hanging out in Germany too long, Natalie…

They haven’t been reading Steve’s page.

I’ve been reading the documentation. It says there.

It is on the website…

Yeah. Okay, we’re gonna award those points, and let’s find out, at number four on this board - people said, with just one word, the Go language was… Fun! Which was mentioned…

I knew it!

Fast is at number three, nine people… At number two, pragmatic. 12 people said that. It would have earned you 24 points.

At least it doesn’t say secure…

Yeah… [laughter]

Well, there are just a lot of answers with four or less then…

Yeah, we’ll do the data crunching and find out. It sometimes happens there’s lots of answers, and it’s not many people agreeing; only if you had five or more will it make it onto the board, of course… But there we go. Let’s have a quick look at the scores, because these are final scores now.

It’s time for final scores now. Team zero got 160 points, which is very respectable… And I’m saying that to lessen the blow when we find out that team one thrashes you with 225 points. Please celebrate appropriately! [applause]

So there we go… Any surprises? What do we think? Which was the round? Jon, when you were saying that they missed out some answers, what were you thinking of?

Oh, I just felt like half the answers people gave on that last one were ones I would have expected to at least show up a couple times… But it is hard when everybody chooses different words.

Yeah, that’s it…

But I did call it, that Katie and Rob were gonna have to carry me… Because I got nothing on that last round.

Yeah. It was good though, ain’t it?

That’s alright. That’s why you’re a team.

That teamwork. Sorry, Steve. You look upset.

How are you feeling, Steve, after…?

I’m pretty broken-hearted. I thought we were gonna win. Even at that last round, I thought we had it. I was like, “We’re gonna steal it.”

We were not efficient enough.

Well, we weren’t fun enough, that’s really what it was.

That’s true. That is actually true.

Or pragmatic.

I mean, that just means you need to rebrand the go.dev website, and just put “FUN” real big.

I think we’re gonna have to… What were the – it was fast, simple, pragmatic and fun. I think that’s what’s gonna go on the website now.

I think it has to. Legally obligated.

That’s what people think of it… But how do you feel? Do you feel like you got to know the Go community a bit more as well, in a way?

Yeah.

Like, do you understand them? Sometimes some of the answers are unusual, aren’t they?

I feel like the last time you played this – the last time you played this, didn’t you have questions that asked about editors, and people were using that? Or I think one question was like “What was the first language you learned?”, so you kind of got to understand people better based on how old they were when they learned to program? This one I don’t feel like there’s any questions that gave that away too much.

Yeah. You sort of just have to pick up the general vibes of people, I think, with this game.

So - interesting fact… In the first Go user survey we had a bonus question, “What was your favorite Go keyword?” And I thought doing all these surveys would help me; that’s the only one it helped me with, but… “go” and “defer” were both high on the list. I remember.

I was something waiting for “else” to be on the list, even though “if” and “switch” weren’t. I was just like, “If that’s the case, it’s just somebody trolling us.”

[44:07] Some of the answers in some of the questions – because we’ve asked loads of questions, so we have loads to choose from… And some of them are – like, you wonder if people are trolling, or joking. And sometimes the joke answers - enough people say it that it makes it onto the board as well, because… You know, it’s quite funny, but… It’s interesting to get into the minds of people, I think, a little bit…

Speaking of that, we’ve got a couple of minutes… Steve, what have you been working on lately?

I’ve been working on a lot of stuff lately, because that’s what I do, I work on a lot of different stuff… But I know – I’ll just kind of talk about some things that we’re working on. A lot of work getting ready for a generics release, which is coming up in the release in February… But the betas should be – you know, all the pre-releases we’re working hard on.

I’m also meeting with a lot of our users. A good part of how I spend my day is meeting with companies and individuals and projects who have adopted Go, and just hearing their challenges and their successes…

Oh, nice.

It’s one of my favorite parts of my job, actually.

Yeah. Generics of course coming in 1.18 in February… Katie - also fuzzing is coming. First-class concern.

It is. I’m so, so excited that it’s happening. I’m working very hard on documentation right now. We’re kind of in the bug fix, and polish, and document phase… So I think it’s gonna be important for it to land with docs, or it’s not gonna land successfully if people can’t use it. So that’s the goal that I have right now for this project.

That makes sense. I love the way that it interops with the existing testing stuff; our knowledge of writing unit tests can come in handy for writing fuzz tests. I think that’s a kind of really nice advantage to the fact that it’s getting first-class support, rather than being a sort of external tool.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that was one of the main goals, and I’m glad you like that.

Yeah, I do. I really do. Well, thank you so much, it’s been a pleasure. If our audience wants to learn more about Rob and Julie, check out our Go Time back-catalog, and also listen to future shows, because they’ll definitely be on it, hopefully.

Thank you so much to everyone for joining this live feed, this game. A great time was had by all(most); a great time was had by most… And we’ll see you next time. Bye everyone!

Bye.

Bye!

What about diversity is not culture? How is diversity and culture not the same? [laughs]

I see.

Nah, that’s fair. I’ll allow it.

I feel like I should have gotten the points when I said “fabulous”…

Maybe we should like each question and then have a regex for the answer next time. So you have to do it in your head live, but…

I would not get any answers then, because I would never compose my regex right the first time…

Which worked, yeah.

Which worked.

Yeah, that time you didn’t even give us the opportunity.

You are all saying regex, wow.

Well, what do you say?

Reg ex.

I say reg ex…

Do you?

Wait, what is it?

Reg ex, regex.

I say reg ex, but I realized people say regex. I say reg ex.

Reg ex. Like Reg A.

Like regular expression.

Do you say gif or gif?

I say gif just to mess with people.

I say gif, I switch.

I mean, I get reg ex in the sense that it’s regular expression, but…

…for some reason I don’t do it.

Yeah, it’s hard to say. I just say regiular expressions… [laughter]

It sounds like something you’d say in British.

Do you say Lynux, too?

Linux?

No, his name is Linus, so it’s Lynux.

Oh…

Well, I thought it was based off minux

Oh, interesting.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that was a long time ago.

Who created regex? Will they give us permission?

This reg ex/regex just gave my next Twitter poll, thank you. All.

I think the teams were super-nice and fair, and I think if we had one more round, we would have taken it.

Yeah, it was amazing.

Yeah, it was close.

Yeah, it was close.

Based on the way the score was going back and forth, I wouldn’t have been shocked at all if you guys would have taken the next round, Steve.

Yeah…

That was the first thing that came to mind, and then – stupid, I was like “I’ll just look at the website, and see what the website says.” I should have stuck with my guess.

Does the website say “fun”?

No.

Oh, you were cheating?

Yeah, I was cheating.

Illegal!

You can’t google it…!

Well, I didn’t google it, I go.dev-ed it.

Is it still cheating if it doesn’t work?

Yes.

Yes.

Well, yes.

It’s still cheating.

But Steve did write that, so he shouldn’t have had to google it.

I did write it. Yeah, I just wanted to double-check myself, because I actually thought it said “fun” – at least one version of it said “fun”; another version said “simple”, but those aren’t on the website today.

I was kicking myself… I thought for sure that was concurrent.

So whoever did the study group…

It’s on people’s minds…

I almost said “concurrent”, and I didn’t.

Oh…!

It was not there. I was surprised.

I knew it was gonna be “fun”. As soon as I said “fast”, I was like, “I hope that can get fun” Because they said “fun” in a previous one, for a similar question. I was like, “They’re gonna say it again.” I thought “fun” was gonna be on the board 100%.

Oh, we should have said “fun”!

[52:12] I was so sure… And then when they said it, I was like, “We’re done. We’re done.” I knew they had it. And then they didn’t, and I was like…

Yeah, when Steve said said “fun”…

So close…

Yeah… I was like, “Oh, man. Fun. Fun is definitely there.”

Well, everyone’s got a time machine token that you can play at any point, and we have to rewind…

Oh, dang. Okay, thanks.

I forgot about that, yeah.

You didn’t mention that rule.

Oh, that’d be fun.

And we’d be like [reverse sound] go backwards through everything, and we can get to that question again, and you can answer it differently, and we play it forward.

I was trying to hold it up after that… [laughter] And I went too fast.

Of course he’s doing it.

You just started doing it, and I read Jerod’s 11 minutes.

In the edit.

Can we make fun of whoever? Panic is not a Go keyword, is it? But someone said it.

Is it not…?!

[laughs] The same complaints last time also… The previous game, same questions, same answers.

Oh…

It’s like, when they do the survey, they don’t actually give them a list of keywords… So on any question like that, they can just type whatever they want in.

No, all the words they said were keywords, but someone in our panel…

Well, it was on –

They guessed a non-keyword.

It was on the last time, panic…

I think that’s a good guess.

Yeah, yeah. On keywords.

It was.

People bundle that in.

People bundle that in.

Oh, panic is a function, not a keyword?

Yeah, built-in function.

I don’t think it’s a keyword…

I’m guessing that things like “new”, “panic”, and there’s a couple others that people probably think are keywords, even though they’re not…

Because they’re built-in functions…

I mean, some of them I wouldn’t know unless I looked at the spec and was like “Okay, what actually is this?”

There’s loads of built-in functions as well… See, I did a talk at Gotham Go, Steve, and I remember showing the list of – I showed the list, and you were like, “They’re not them.” And I was like doing my talk, trying to concentrate and be professional. And you’re like “That’s not them…” And I was like, “Oh…” You can see on the video when you ruined it.

Mat, we know you’re not telling the truth though, because I’ve known you a long time and I’ve yet to see you be professional once… [laughter]