Ayke van Laethem
I have been working on TinyGo for the last few years. Before that, I worked on the MicroPython Python interpreter and worked on the IRMA project.
As a child, I have long been interested in electronics. At some point I started to learn programming Python (around the age of 12 or 13) and I have been programming ever since. Around six years ago I learned about the Arduino environment, where my previous interest in electronics was revived with a new power: programmable microcontrollers. I didn't like C much so I started looking into alternatives and found MicroPython. But that wasn't exactly what I was looking for either so I did the naive thing and started the TinyGo project with the goal of making the Go language available for microcontrollers.
Sessions
Go is often thought of as a server programming language, especially one used for microservices. However, I argue that it can also be a good language for much smaller systems: microcontrollers. Especially with the Internet of Things there is a need for a language that is safer, easier to use (harder to misuse) and easier to build and test.