Ah, programming language choices - the great philosophical debate of our time. While I am sure I will have a gazillion comments about “why not X?” or “why X?” - I figured I would still put out there the languages I am pursuing and wanting to grow in as we near the end of the year and head into the next.
Without further ado, let’s go (haha, pun intended):
For the web#
Go#
“But Go is so BORING!”
Precisely.
I like Go because of the philosophy of simplicity (you will see my new language of choice values this as well), the desire to have the stdlib do everything well, and I mean, I just like the syntax.
I have been writing Backend services, APIs and CLIs for about 2.5 years in Go at this point, and I don’t see myself switching to anything else anytime soon - my templating for frontend is done with templ, and I use chi for handling routing in my webapps. SQLC handles my SQL stuff very nicely.
Go is generally what I reach to for doing most anything - not just web related by any stretch of the imagination, but it is not the only language I work in.
Web - Hypermedia w/ Datastar#
As I mentioned Templ, I am a big believer in hypermedia as the way forward (back?) for the web.
Using html and css for what they are good for, and only reaching out for interactivity’s sake to JS. I have used svelte, astro (still running this blog), nextJS, pure react et al. in the past, and honestly, I don’t need them.
That’s where Datastar comes in. Datastar allows one to integrate the features of HTMX and AlpineJS into one (tiny) library, as well as stream real-time content with NATS (the author’s choice). This permits reactivity for everything but the most heavy frontend requirements (think a Figma or Google sheets for example).
As a solo dev, this allows me to move very fast and build things that some wouldn’t believe possible just with hypermedia.
Capacitor#
This is something I will be exploring as we enter 2026 as I want to release apps to the iOS/Google Play stores and using webview is a way to do so without going full native.
Data - SQL (sqlite or postgres)#
Sqlite for mockups and local stuff, a self-hosted postgres instance for nearly everything else. No vendor lockin, no huge cloud bills.
Computing environment#
Elisp#
As an emacs guy, learning elisp for configuration and for getting my environment setup as I want it has been invaluable. I am not a wizard by any stretch of the imagination (emacs has a 30 year learning curve), but write it weekly in some capacity.
The parenthesis are nice, though…
Nix#
Even if I didn’t use NixOS, I would still use nix for development extensively. It really is that good, and replaces docker/podman, as well as development shells for me in almost all usecases (podman is a nice escape hatch if needed).
Any script I write starts with a nix shebang and declares the environment and packages needed to make that script work, any project I build contains a flake to define dependencies and deployment instructions, and every single machine I run has nix installed (nixOS full migration will be coming in 2026 for my one straggling legacy Debian server).
Nix (or some form of declarative management) is the future, I am betting on it heavily.
Everything else#
Python#
My very first language, I still have many python scripts that hold together my businesses, and the extensive libraries mean that any sort of data/AI leaning projects almost always have some python in them. I have replaced python with Go in many instances, but it still sticks around frequently - even if I prefer Go for more general tooling.
Zig (learning)#
I figured that this year, I would add a low level language to my repertoire and between Rust, C (I am slowly going through the K&R book), and Zig, I chose Zig as it aligns well with the Go philosophy (simplicity), as well as my own philosophy of non-abstraction and deep knowledge. I have just started down the road, but Zig seems very promising and is already used in some fairly well known projects and by some fairly prominent figures in the programming community, giving me some belief in the stability and viablilty of it as a language that is going to stick around.
So, there you have it, my languages that I am looking toward in 2026 and beyond.
As always, God bless, and until next time.
If you enjoyed this post, consider Supporting my work, Checking out my book, Working with me, or sending me an Email to tell me what you think.