Go for Java Programmers • Barry Feigenbaum & Shon Saliga • GOTO 2026

This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. #GOTOcon #GOTObookclub http://gotopia.tech/bookclub Barry Feigenbaum - Retired Sr. Principal Software Engineer & Author of "Go for Java Programmers" Shon Saliga - IBM Storage Evangelist Check out more here: https://gotopia.tech/episodes/444 RESOURCES Barry https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryfeigenbaum Shon https://www.linkedin.com/in/shon-saliga-32336b2 Links https://youtu.be/ScE9TnoWltA https://youtu.be/v9Pq69Y_yqM https://youtu.be/miUbs3mqPJE https://youtu.be/ZOvxa9aKCCg https://youtu.be/RlCpgSoOX6I https://youtu.be/2749IF7gAbI https://youtu.be/T3vBj9jTCQY https://youtu.be/WpvmRaHEQzA https://youtu.be/8G8jeAUYLAQ https://youtu.be/YAXGU2J7XjM DESCRIPTION Dr. Barry Feigenbaum — an IBM, Amazon and Dell veteran with a PhD in Computer Engineering and decades of Java experience — spent time working with Go on microservices and liked it enough to write the book he wished had existed when he made the switch. In this GOTO Book Club episode with longtime colleague Shon Saliga, he walks through the core contrasts: Go is a compiled language that targets a narrower domain than Java — primarily command-line tools and web servers — but excels there with smaller binaries, faster startup, and dramatically lower container overhead. Concurrency is the headline difference: Go's goroutines are far lighter than Java threads, and its channel-based communication model sidesteps many of the problems that make concurrent Java code hard to reason about. The error handling conversation is particularly illuminating. Java's exception mechanism, while powerful, encourages developers to overuse it for ordinary error reporting — Go simply doesn't allow that by design. Errors in Go are return values, not throws; panics are reserved for truly catastrophic situations. Similarly, Go's implicit interfaces (if you implement the methods, you implement the interface — no declaration required) give the language a flexibility that feels alien to Java developers at first but becomes a strength quickly. Barry's conclusion is clear: for greenfield servers and containerized microservices, Go is worth serious consideration — and for Java developers willing to reset a few mental models, the transition is more tractable than it looks. TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 03:01 Go vs. Java: The high-level view 04:39 Is Go a compiled or interpreted language? 06:32 Exceptions vs. panics: A design philosophy 08:47 What will Java devs miss the most? 22:10 How do Goroutines compare to Java Threads? 26:10 Implicit interfaces & pointers explained 29:40 Errors as values vs. exceptions 30:43 Is Go the next Java for servers? 31:44 Outro RECOMMENDED BOOKS Barry Feigenbaum • Go for Java Programmers • https://amzn.to/4uRL3li Ken Christopher, Barry Feigenbaum, Shon Salig • DOS 5: The Basic • https://amzn.to/4tKDVGs A N M Bazlur Rahman • Modern Concurrency in Java • https://amzn.to/42w8cOk Ben Evans & Jim Gough • Optimizing Cloud Native Java • https://amzn.to/41nivD9 Ian F. Darwin • Java Cookbook 5th ed. • https://amzn.to/3QH0NZy Victor Grazi & Jeanne Boyarsky • Real-World Java • https://amzn.to/4oCEeBR https://bsky.app/profile/gotocon.com https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #Java #Golang #Java25 #JDK21 #Concurrency #Goroutines #VirtualThreads #JVM #JavaProgramming #GoProgramming #StructuredConcurrency #JavaConcurrency #JakartaEE #ProjectValhalla #ProjectBabylon #ProjectLoom #Programming #TodayInTech #BarryFeigenbaum #ShonSaliga #BookClub CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1