Gophers Say GopherCon Edition

Go Time panelists Natalie & Jon join forces with Go Team members Steve Francia, Katie Hockman, Julie Qui, and Rob Findley to battle it out and see who can better guess what the GopherCon gophers had to say!

Listen to the podcast at https://changelog.com/gotime/211

Transcript

Mat Ryer: 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.

Julie Qiu: Hi!

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

Steve Francia: Hi, everyone.

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

Steve Francia: I mean, I’m here…

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

Jon Calhoun: Hey, Mat. How are you?

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

Jon Calhoun: [03:59] I don’t know.

Mat Ryer: That’s a good answer. An honest answer.

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

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

Natalie Pistunovich: Hi, Mat.

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

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

Mat Ryer: Yeah, absolutely.

Natalie Pistunovich: Because I already played it.

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

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

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

Rob Findley: I am. Hi, Mat.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Natalie Pistunovich: Woo-hoo!

Julie Qiu: Woo-hoo!

Mat Ryer: 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.

Rob Findley: Go team one!

Jon Calhoun: Katie apparently isn’t happy. [laughter]

Katie Hockman: It’s one for the first place, yeah.

Rob Findley: Very happy.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Natalie Pistunovich: Welcoming.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Jon Calhoun: 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.

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

Natalie Pistunovich: Wooooh!

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

Mat Ryer: Okay…

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

Mat Ryer: [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.

Steve Francia: It should have been. It should have been.

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

Julie Qiu: I’m gonna say “fabulous”.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Natalie Pistunovich: Inclusive.

Mat Ryer: 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.

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

Katie Hockman: I don’t know…

Rob Findley: The Go community is gopher?

Jon Calhoun: That, or like programmer, or like nerdy…

Katie Hockman: I was gonna say diverse…

Rob Findley: Yeah, I think diverse…

Jon Calhoun: That’s a good one.

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

Jon Calhoun: Are we going with diverse?

Mat Ryer: Do you wanna lock it in?

Rob Findley: Yeah.

Jon Calhoun: Okay, we’re locking diverse in.

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

Katie Hockman: What?!

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

Rob Findley: It makes sense.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Katie Hockman: Wow…

Mat Ryer: There we go.

Jon Calhoun: We’re getting off to a rough start.

Katie Hockman: Yeah.

Natalie Pistunovich: Isn’t it the same as fabulous?

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

Natalie Pistunovich: [laughs]

Mat Ryer: 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?

Katie Hockman: Wait, so it’s me first?

Mat Ryer: Yeah.

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

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

Katie Hockman: Yaaay!

Mat Ryer: 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 –

Steve Francia: And I was gonna say coffee shop, so…

Mat Ryer: There we go.

Steve Francia: Good one.

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

Mat Ryer: 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?

Jon Calhoun: [12:02] I’m gonna go with “park”.

Mat Ryer: 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…

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

Mat Ryer: Oh, airplane. Gophers say… [fail sound]

Katie Hockman: Ugh…

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

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

Rob Findley: Well, yeah…

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

Rob Findley: Not me.

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

Jon Calhoun: Oh, boy… I’m gonna guess campground.

Mat Ryer: 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…

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

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

Katie Hockman: I always have a life left…

Mat Ryer: One life left…

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

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

Mat Ryer: Oh, really?

Rob Findley: Yeah.

Jon Calhoun: Mat, are you good?

Mat Ryer: Oh, okay.

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

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

Natalie Pistunovich: Mat started counting at zero.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Steve Francia: So we get to talk to each other right now?

Mat Ryer: yes.

Natalie Pistunovich: Yes, we get to decide together.

Steve Francia: What about library?

Julie Qiu: I thought train.

Steve Francia: I was thinking train, too. Train and library.

Natalie Pistunovich: 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?

Julie Qiu: Hm…

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

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

Mat Ryer: Okay.

Natalie Pistunovich: By this order? [laughs]

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

Julie Qiu: Yeah.

Mat Ryer: Natalie…?

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

Mat Ryer: 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.

Natalie Pistunovich: Wow…!

Mat Ryer: 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…

Break: [15:50]

Mat Ryer: 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.

Julie Qiu: Oh, boy… Um, switch.

Mat Ryer: Switch. Gophers say… [fail sound] No.

Julie Qiu: Sorry.

Mat Ryer: 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.

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

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

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

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

Mat Ryer: But you could do some of them, right?

Jon Calhoun: I’m gonna go with select…

Mat Ryer: 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.

Katie Hockman: Everybody needs that… [laughs]

Mat Ryer: What are their programs?

Rob Findley: You need to return…

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

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

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

Rob Findley: It’s useful.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Jon Calhoun: Var?

Mat Ryer: [20:01] Var… Good one.

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

Mat Ryer: Good point.

Jon Calhoun: …that everybody loves.

Mat Ryer: [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?

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

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

Natalie Pistunovich: Apparently…

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

Jon Calhoun: These are interesting programs.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Natalie Pistunovich: Alright, this time we’re doing this right…

Mat Ryer: Yes, please.

Natalie Pistunovich: What do you think?

Steve Francia: I think it’s “defer”.

Natalie Pistunovich: I was thinking of that, too.

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

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

Mat Ryer: 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.

Natalie Pistunovich: [laughs]

Mat Ryer: Defer. Gophers say… [win sound] Yes!

Julie Qiu: Yaay!

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

Rob Findley: Oh, it’s so close.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Jon Calhoun: The paycheck?

Mat Ryer: 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?

Natalie Pistunovich: Twitter?

Mat Ryer: Twitter. [laughter]

Natalie Pistunovich: It’s my honest answer…

Mat Ryer: 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?

Katie Hockman: I think people would have said “the people”.

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

Mat Ryer: 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.

Rob Findley: Generous.

Mat Ryer: Very cool. Three lives still. Jonny Calhoun…

Jon Calhoun: I’m gonna go with the impact.

Mat Ryer: The impact.

Jon Calhoun: You can impact more people.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Katie Hockman: 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”…

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

Mat Ryer: Okay, let’s see…

Rob Findley: I don’t know, I’m doubtful.

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

Mat Ryer: The language, Go.

Jon Calhoun: Go.

Mat Ryer: The best thing.

Jon Calhoun: The best thing about the tech industry is Go.

Mat Ryer: 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…

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

Mat Ryer: You’re very close with that answer, apparently…

Katie Hockman: Okay… Coding?

Mat Ryer: 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.

Natalie Pistunovich: My idea is conferences.

Julie Qiu: Me too!

Natalie Pistunovich: Okay! Steve?

Steve Francia: I was gonna say travel. So I think conferences is great.

Julie Qiu: Yeah.

Natalie Pistunovich: Cool. Okay. So that’s our answer.

Mat Ryer: 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…

Rob Findley: Yay!

Mat Ryer: 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?

Steve Francia: [28:20] Um, bugs.

Mat Ryer: Bugs. What a great answer.

Steve Francia: Bugs.

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

Steve Francia: Bugs.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Katie Hockman: 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.

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

Katie Hockman: It’s all done. Fixed it.

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

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

Julie Qiu: Yeah.

Mat Ryer: Scallywags.

Julie Qiu: Exactly.

Mat Ryer: 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…

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

Mat Ryer: Okay. So like management practices, stuff like that.

Natalie Pistunovich: Yes.

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

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

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

Steve Francia: I think it’s the hours.

Mat Ryer: 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.

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

Mat Ryer: So the evil? Would you class it as evil?

Julie Qiu: Yes, the evil. Yeah.

Mat Ryer: 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?

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

Mat Ryer: [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.

Natalie Pistunovich: Legacy?

Mat Ryer: Well, that would probably fall under the existing code…

Natalie Pistunovich: Okay. Oh, man… I’m out of ideas. Um…

Mat Ryer: Tough one, isn’t it?

Natalie Pistunovich: 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?

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

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

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

Natalie Pistunovich: Right. Bad documentation?

Mat Ryer: 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.

Jon Calhoun: 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.

Mat Ryer: Didn’t take conferences out

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

Jon Calhoun: 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.

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

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

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

Rob Findley: Sounds good.

Jon Calhoun: Okay. So let’s go with social media.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Natalie Pistunovich: Yaay!

Rob Findley: Wooh!

Steve Francia: This is fun.

Jon Calhoun: 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.

Mat Ryer: 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!

Break: [34:42]

Mat Ryer: 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?

Rob Findley: [36:06] I think people said “simple”.

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

Rob Findley: I hope.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Jon Calhoun: I’m gonna go with verbose.

Mat Ryer: 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 –

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

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

Natalie Pistunovich: About being verbose…

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

Katie Hockman: Is verbose on the board?

Jon Calhoun: I was gonna say…

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

Katie Hockman: I’m gonna assume no… Okay…

Mat Ryer: 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]

Katie Hockman: No worries…

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

Katie Hockman: Alright, I’m gonna say “fast”.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Rob Findley: How about “concrete”?

Mat Ryer: 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.

Jon Calhoun: See, this is the problem…

Mat Ryer: Last life, Jon…

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

Mat Ryer: 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?

Jon Calhoun: Um, readable?

Mat Ryer: 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?

Natalie Pistunovich: What do you say?

Julie Qiu: Oh, boy…

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

Julie Qiu: That was mine!

Steve Francia: Secure…

Julie Qiu: That was what I have in mind.

Steve Francia: 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.

Natalie Pistunovich: Secure is a good one.

Julie Qiu: I like efficient.

Natalie Pistunovich: 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 –

Jon Calhoun: I think anything below five answers gets dropped.

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

Mat Ryer: Mm-hm.

Steve Francia: Many people answered the same things in this one.

Julie Qiu: Yeah.

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

Natalie Pistunovich: Then how many people said “efficient”?

Mat Ryer: Shall we find out? Is that your answer?

Natalie Pistunovich: [40:23] Yes.

Mat Ryer: Would you like to lock it in?

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

Mat Ryer: 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…

Jon Calhoun: They haven’t been reading Steve’s page.

Natalie Pistunovich: I’ve been reading the documentation. It says there.

Steve Francia: It is on the website…

Mat Ryer: 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…

Rob Findley: I knew it!

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

Katie Hockman: At least it doesn’t say secure…

Mat Ryer: Yeah… [laughter]

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

Mat Ryer: 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?

Jon Calhoun: 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.

Mat Ryer: Yeah, that’s it…

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

Mat Ryer: Yeah. It was good though, ain’t it?

Natalie Pistunovich: That’s alright. That’s why you’re a team.

Jon Calhoun: That teamwork. Sorry, Steve. You look upset.

Mat Ryer: How are you feeling, Steve, after…?

Steve Francia: 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.”

Natalie Pistunovich: We were not efficient enough.

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

Natalie Pistunovich: That’s true. That is actually true.

Steve Francia: Or pragmatic.

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

Steve Francia: 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.

Katie Hockman: I think it has to. Legally obligated.

Mat Ryer: 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?

Steve Francia: Yeah.

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

Jon Calhoun: 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.

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

Steve Francia: 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.

Jon Calhoun: 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.”

Mat Ryer: [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?

Steve Francia: 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…

Mat Ryer: Oh, nice.

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

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

Katie Hockman: 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.

Mat Ryer: 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.

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

Mat Ryer: 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!

Steve Francia: Bye.

Natalie Pistunovich: Bye!

Break: [46:44]

Jerod Santo: I feel like I only really screwed up probably the tech/innovation one, which was the number one answer nobody got… I almost gave it when Jon said “Go”, because that would be focused on like the tech, but it was more broad… I was struggling.

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

Jerod Santo: Well, yeah… I know, but you just said – yeah, that was definitely specifically mentioned by a few people.

Katie Hockman: I see.

Jerod Santo: And I grouped it into like – it was tough because there were so many… Like, “tech bros”… There were a lot of weird responses, so I kind of like put it in like the people and the culture. But when you said diversity specifically, I was kind of like “It would be too much of a mismatch with just the people.” It was tough.

Katie Hockman: Nah, that’s fair. I’ll allow it.

Jerod Santo: That one was.

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

Jerod Santo: Oh, those were – that one I didn’t do any grouping, because that was like the easiest one, right? Because you can actually just like “Group by” and the actual words were… So I didn’t do any grouping of the words. But on the –

Mat Ryer: 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…

Jerod Santo: Just do the regex live and apply it?

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

Jerod Santo: Well, you can just have Mat write the regex, and then we can all criticize it on the air like we did last time with your team selection algorithm.

Mat Ryer: Which worked, yeah.

Jerod Santo: Which worked… [laughs]

Mat Ryer: Which worked.

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

Natalie Pistunovich: You are all saying regex, wow.

Mat Ryer: Well, what do you say?

Natalie Pistunovich: Reg ex.

Katie Hockman: I say reg ex…

Mat Ryer: Do you?

Steve Francia: Wait, what is it?

Natalie Pistunovich: Reg ex, regex.

Katie Hockman: I say reg ex, but I realized people say regex. I say reg ex.

Steve Francia: Reg ex. Like Reg A.

Natalie Pistunovich: Like regular expression.

Rob Findley: Do you say gif or gif?

Katie Hockman: I say gif just to mess with people.

Jerod Santo: Do you say gif?

Katie Hockman: I say gif, I switch.

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

Jerod Santo: Yeah, I understand it’s illogical.

Jon Calhoun: …for some reason I don’t do it.

Jerod Santo: …but regex just rolls off the tongue, whereas reg ex - you feel like you’re choking.

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

Jerod Santo: This is funny, because…

Natalie Pistunovich: It sounds like something you’d say in British.

Julie Qiu: Do you say Lynux, too?

Jerod Santo: No, of course not.

Julie Qiu: Linux?

Steve Francia: No, his name is Linus, so it’s Lynux.

Natalie Pistunovich: Oh…

Rob Findley: Well, I thought it was based off minux

Jerod Santo: No, because Linus is actually on the record of saying “My name is Linus Torvalds and I call Linux Linux.” [Linus recording 00:50:22.20] He recorded that audio and put it out there.

Steve Francia: Oh, interesting.

Mat Ryer: Oh, yeah.

Jerod Santo: So we have permission.

Steve Francia: Yeah, that was a long time ago.

Jerod Santo: It really was.

Steve Francia: Who created regex? Will they give us permission?

Jerod Santo: Oh, I’ll give you permission to call it regex.

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

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

Jerod Santo: It was super-tight. This was probably the closest one we’ve had.

Rob Findley: Yeah, it was amazing.

Steve Francia: Yeah, it was close.

Mat Ryer: Yeah, it was close.

Jon Calhoun: 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.

Jerod Santo: Well, you were one word away. “Fun” was the word, and you had it in your shortlist…

Natalie Pistunovich: Yeah…

Jerod Santo: So… Great game, guys.

Steve Francia: 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.

Mat Ryer: Does the website say “fun”?

Steve Francia: No.

Rob Findley: Oh, you were cheating?

Steve Francia: Yeah, I was cheating.

Natalie Pistunovich: Illegal!

Jon Calhoun: You can’t google it…!

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

Jerod Santo: [laughs]

Mat Ryer: Is it still cheating if it doesn’t work?

Katie Hockman: Yes.

Rob Findley: Yes.

Steve Francia: Well, yes.

Jon Calhoun: It’s still cheating.

Jerod Santo: It’s still cheating.

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

Steve Francia: 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.

Rob Findley: I was kicking myself… I thought for sure that was concurrent.

Jon Calhoun: So whoever did the study group…

Natalie Pistunovich: It’s on people’s minds…

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

Julie Qiu: Oh…!

Rob Findley: It was not there. I was surprised.

Katie Hockman: 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%.

Steve Francia: Oh, we should have said “fun”!

Katie Hockman: [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…

Rob Findley: Yeah, when Steve said said “fun”…

Steve Francia: So close…

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

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

Katie Hockman: Oh, dang. Okay, thanks.

Mat Ryer: I forgot about that, yeah.

Katie Hockman: You didn’t mention that rule.

Steve Francia: Oh, that’d be fun.

Mat Ryer: 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.

Jerod Santo: Wow. Can we go back and erase that “verbosity” joke you did?

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

Jerod Santo: I knew what you were doing immediately, and I’m like, “Oh, he’s not doing this, is he?”

Mat Ryer: Of course he’s doing it.

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

Mat Ryer: In the edit.

Jerod Santo: I guess I can go back and change it.

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

Katie Hockman: Is it not…?!

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

Jerod Santo: Yeah, it was new last time as well.

Katie Hockman: Oh…

Jon Calhoun: 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.

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

Jerod Santo: Oh, someone guessed “panic”?

Mat Ryer: Well, it was on –

Steve Francia: They guessed a non-keyword.

Mat Ryer: It was on the last time, panic…

Rob Findley: I think that’s a good guess.

Mat Ryer: Yeah, yeah. On keywords.

Jerod Santo: Yeah, it actually was on the last time.

Steve Francia: It was.

Mat Ryer: People bundle that in.

Jerod Santo: So they were playing 4D chess. Was that you, Natalie? She was on the last time…

Mat Ryer: People bundle that in.

Katie Hockman: Oh, panic is a function, not a keyword?

Mat Ryer: Yeah, built-in function.

Steve Francia: I don’t think it’s a keyword…

Jerod Santo: I can’t believe “return” wasn’t on there.

Jon Calhoun: 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…

Mat Ryer: Because they’re built-in functions…

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

Mat Ryer: 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.

Steve Francia: 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]