>How is this any kind of pro or con? It's just an implementation detail.
Not exactly. It's hardly a detail, and affects use.
The first (not having a VM) in Go's case translates into AOT static compilation, and you not needing to have a VM installed to run your programs.
The second (not using LLVM) translates in Go's case to faster compile times compared to LLVM based compiled languages.
While both have their drawbacks (e.g. LLVM compiled code would probably be faster), both are pluses for my preferences/use cases - not mere implementation details.
Not exactly. It's hardly a detail, and affects use.
The first (not having a VM) in Go's case translates into AOT static compilation, and you not needing to have a VM installed to run your programs.
The second (not using LLVM) translates in Go's case to faster compile times compared to LLVM based compiled languages.
While both have their drawbacks (e.g. LLVM compiled code would probably be faster), both are pluses for my preferences/use cases - not mere implementation details.