gofpher VS mo

I'm glad to see this idea getting some traction again. I haven't used Go much in the last few years, but I started writing playing around with a similar idea back in 2016 when I was working on a small compiler for a configuration management tool, and later put together a [small stand-alone proof of concept library](https://github.com/rebeccaskinner/gofpher) as part of a [talk](https://speakerdeck.com/rebeccaskinner/monadic-error-handlin...).

At the time, I remember finding FP in go surprisingly ergonomic. Implementing the library to support it was a pain since the type system wasn't expressive enough to prevent everything from devolving into a pile of untyped reflection, but it was reasonably easy to keep that an implementation detail. On the whole, I felt like go would have lent itself well to the "dash of FP for flavor" style of programming that seems to be gaining popularity these days. Unfortunately, in 2017 at least, the Go community seemed to have very little interest in the idea.

I still have a fondness for Go. It always felt nice to use. If the language features have caught up to the point where a robust library like this is feasible, and the communities attitude has shifted, I might take another look at the language.

Monadic error handling like in ML work-alikes, Rust etc. would be a good start. Adopt:

• https://github.com/rebeccaskinner/gofpher

• https://speakerdeck.com/rebeccaskinner/monadic-error-handlin...

I've been talking to the local Go user group. No one even knows about that concept. This continues a pattern of general ignorance/lack of looking beyond one's horizon I've noticed.

A simple alternative is the combination of:

- https://github.com/samber/lo

- https://github.com/samber/mo

The split is also nice as you can choose to just use the generic convenience functions from lo without the more FP related things from mo.

Is it a popular approach to use abstractions in general for handling nil values with libraries like null or mo? Should I just stick with pointers? What are your experiences on this topic?

I really like it. Have been using it for a while, just don't overuse it. Also, I recommend github.com/samber/mo

Go generics allow all kinds of things https://github.com/samber/mo

Have you taken a look at mo? https://github.com/samber/mo

If you are curious, try looking at github.com/samber/lo and github.com/samber/mo packages if you get a chance.

I have seen https://github.com/samber/mo but it's a niche. Monads aren't popular in Golang community.

I've also looked at the mo library, in particular to use Option[User] but that's really just a slightly safer way to represent User* here. (Safer because you're forced to check if there's a value and so don't have the same accidental panic risk.)