it uses the same syntax as functions, but it doesn't behave like a function – functions generally can't manipulate control flow like that. so calling it a function is weird because it's closer to a language construct like `await`

We already have one built-in function that alters the control flow: panic. But I agree it's a bit weird.

tbh i don't know Go too well. as i understand it, `panic` can indeed hijack the control flow, i.e. stop it. but any function¹ can do that: just do `while 1 {}`! control flow won't return to the caller either way. so it's not that weird after all

Ruby blocks can do non-local control flow, i.e. return from their surrounding function, but that's what makes them distinct from functions.

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¹ in a turing-complete language

(i'm a Haskell enthusiast, so please excuse the nitpicking :)

A panic can be recovered with recover(), and thus the program can continue. While a function that does an infinite loop will halt the program and nothing else.