Golang, also known as Go, is an open-source programming language created by Google in 2009. It is a statically typed, compiled language designed to be simple, efficient, and reliable. It is primarily used for building web applications, cloud services, and distributed systems.
Go is designed to be a modern language with the ability to easily handle large-scale projects. It is easy to learn and understand, and its syntax is designed to be intuitive and straightforward. Go has many features that stand out from other programming languages, such as built-in garbage collection, concurrency primitives, and fast compilation times.
It also has a powerful standard library that provides a wide range of functionality for building robust applications. Additionally, Go is highly scalable and can be used for small and large projects. Overall, Go is a great choice for building web applications, cloud services, and distributed systems. It is fast, reliable, and easy to learn and use. It also has a wide range of features that make it stand out from other programming languages.
Today we will delve a little deeper into Golang, talk in-depth about its features and try to predict where the language will be in the next few years.
A Brief History of Golang
Golang, or Go, is a programming language created by Google in 2009. It was designed to be a language that is easy to learn and use while still being powerful enough to handle large and complex projects. Go was initially developed by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson, who had previously worked on the Unix operating system.
They sought to create a language that would combine the power of C and C++ with the ease of use of a scripting language like Python. Go was first released to the public in November 2009 and has since become one of the most popular programming languages in the world. Many companies use it, including Google, Dropbox, Uber, and more.
Go has been updated over the years, adding several improvements, such as support for modules, improved error messages, and more. Go has also seen the development of many frameworks and libraries, such as the popular web framework Revel, the web application framework Beego, and the web server framework Gin.
In addition to its popularity among developers, Go has also been used in a number of open-source projects, such as the popular distributed version control system Git, the popular image manipulation library ImageMagick, and the popular text editor Vim. Go has become a popular language for creating microservices due to its scalability and performance. It is also used for creating distributed systems, such as the popular distributed key-value store etcd.
Go is a popular programming language used by approximately 1.1 million professional developers as a primary language and around 2.7 million as a secondary language. It is most popular in China, Russia, and the United States, and it is among the top 10 primary languages of professional developers with a share of 7%.
Go is becoming a language of choice for a lot of companies and it is often used for backend development and microservices. The Go community is enthusiastic, fun, and welcoming, which makes it a great language to learn and use.
Golang Tools
The Go compiler is one of the most important tools in the Golang ecosystem. The compiler takes your code and turns it into an executable program that can be run on any computer. The compiler also includes a variety of tools such as linting, debugging, and code optimization. The Go compiler is open source and can be downloaded for free from the official website.
Golang also comes with an integrated development environment (IDE) called GoLand. GoLand is a great tool for quickly writing, running, and debugging your code. It also has a built-in debugger, code refactoring, and other useful features. GoLand is available for Windows and Mac OS X.
Golang also comes with an official package manager called “go get.” Go get makes it easy to install packages from the official repository or from third-party sources. You can use go get to install libraries, frameworks, and other dependencies that you need for your project.
The official Golang website also provides a great resource for learning the language called “A Tour of Go.” This interactive tutorial teaches you the basics of the language and provides you with the tools you need to get started. The tour includes exercises that help you practice your coding skills.
Golang also has a number of popular frameworks available. The most popular ones include Echo, Revel, and Gin. These frameworks provide you with the tools you need to quickly build web applications. They also have great documentation that makes it easy to get started.
Golang has a vibrant community of developers who are always willing to help out newbies. You can find many helpful resources on the official Golang website and on sites like Stack Overflow and Reddit. There are also numerous online communities dedicated to helping Golang developers, such as Golang Slack and Gophers on Slack.
Finally, Golang has a great set of tools for testing your code. The official Golang testing framework is called “Go test,” and it provides you with the tools you need to quickly write tests for your code. There are also third-party testing tools, such as Ginkgo and Gomega, that make it easier to write comprehensive tests.
Golang Frameworks
Gin
Gin is a web framework written in Go that is fast, lightweight, and powerful. It is designed to be simple and easy to use, making it ideal for developers who want to quickly create web applications. It also provides features such as routing, middleware support, templating, and an integrated testing environment.
Beego
Beego is another web framework written in Go that is designed to be fast, flexible, and easy to use. It provides features such as routing, templating, session management, and an integrated testing environment. Beego provides support for web services, such as JSON-RPC, XML-RPC, and RESTful APIs.
Buffalo
Buffalo is a web framework written in Go that focuses on rapid development and productivity. It provides features such as routing, templating, asset packaging, session management, and an integrated testing environment. Buffalo also provides support for the same web services.
Echo
Echo is a high performance web framework written in Go that focuses on speed and productivity. It provides features such as routing, middleware support, templating, session management, and an integrated testing environment. Echo also provides support for web services, such as JSON-RPC, XML-RPC, and RESTful APIs.
Revel
Revel is a full-stack web framework written in Go that focuses on speed and productivity. It provides features such as routing, templating, asset packaging, session management, and an integrated testing environment. Revel also provides support for the web services mentioned above.
Why Golang has Become to Go-To for Microservices
Golang has become increasingly popular as the go-to language for microservices. Its use in developing distributed systems has made it an attractive option for companies seeking to quickly and efficiently create applications and services.
First, Golang is a statically typed, compiled language that is simple to learn and use. This makes it an ideal language for creating microservices because it is easy to understand and maintain.
Additionally, Golang has a robust set of features that make it well-suited for building microservices. These features include support for concurrency, a lightweight runtime, and a built-in garbage collector. Second, Golang is a cross-platform language that can be used on different operating systems and architectures.
This makes it ideal for creating distributed systems that need to be accessible from multiple platforms. Golang’s cross-platform support allows developers to quickly port their code to different platforms, making it easy to deploy microservices across multiple environments.
Third, Golang is fast. The language is designed to be fast and efficient, allowing developers to create high performance applications. Additionally, the language’s static typing ensures that code is more likely to run quickly and efficiently. This makes Golang an ideal choice for creating microservices that need to handle high volumes of requests with minimal latency.
Finally, Golang is highly scalable. The language was designed to support horizontal scaling, which allows developers to easily add new nodes to their distributed system without needing to rewrite code. This makes it easy to scale up microservices as demand increases, ensuring that applications remain responsive even under heavy load.
In summary, Golang is an ideal choice for creating microservices due to its simple syntax, robust feature set, cross-platform support, speed, and scalability. Its use in distributed systems has made it a popular choice among developers looking to quickly and efficiently create applications and services. For these reasons, Golang is the go-to language for microservices.
Comparing Golang with Other Languages
Golang vs. Rust
Golang
- Static typing, garbage collection, concurrency support, pointer safety, reflection, function overloading, type inference, operator overloading
- Easy to learn and use with a simple syntax and excellent documentation
- Good performance due to its use of static typing and garbage collection
- Clean and readable code with a well-defined style guide
- Large and active community with lots of libraries and frameworks available
- Extensive set of tools for development, debugging, profiling and deployment
Rust
- Static typing, ownership and borrowing model, no garbage collection, concurrency support, pointer safety, pattern matching, algebraic data types, generics
- Can be difficult to learn due to its complexity and lack of good documentation
- Excellent performance due to its ownership and borrowing model and lack of garbage collection.
- High quality code due to its type system and strict compiler checks
- Growing and active community with a growing number of libraries and frameworks available
- Developing set of tools for development, debugging, profiling, and deployment
Golang vs. C++
Golang
- Golang is a statically typed language with a syntax similar to C but also has some modern features such as garbage collection and concurrency support.
- Golang is easy to learn, especially for developers familiar with C-style languages. It also has excellent documentation and a large library of packages.
- Golang is very fast and is known for its performance. It has a very efficient memory management system and its code can be compiled quickly.
- Golang has an excellent code quality, as it encourages developers to write clean, well-structured code that is easy to read and maintain.
- Golang has an active community with many developers and companies contributing to the language. There are also many forums and resources available for developers to get help.
- Golang has excellent tooling, including an integrated development environment (IDE) and a rich ecosystem of third-party tools.
C++
- C++ is a statically typed language with a powerful set of features and a syntax similar to C.
- C++ can be difficult to learn for developers new to the language, but there are many resources available for learning the language.
- C++ is very fast and has excellent performance, as it can take advantage of low-level optimizations.
- C++ has good code quality, as long as developers are careful to write clean and well-structured code.
- C++ has a large and active community, with many developers contributing to the language.
- C++ has excellent tooling, including an integrated development environment (IDE) and a rich ecosystem of third-party tools.
Golang vs. C#
Golang
- Golang is a statically-typed language with a syntax similar to C, but with additional features such as garbage collection, type safety, and built-in concurrency primitives.
- Golang is a cross-platform language that supports Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
- Golang compiles directly to machine code, eliminating the need for an intermediate language like Java bytecode or .NET Intermediate Language.
- Golang has a robust standard library that includes data structures, networking, web programming, concurrency, and other features.
- Golang has excellent performance due to its fast compilation times and low memory overhead.
- Golang is relatively easy to learn due to its simple syntax and clear documentation.
C#
- C# is an object-oriented, statically-typed language with a syntax similar to C++, but with additional features such as garbage collection, type safety, and built-in language constructs for object-oriented programming.
- C# is a Windows-only language, although Mono is an open-source implementation of the .NET framework that can be used to develop cross-platform applications.
- C# compiles to Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), which is then compiled to native machine code at runtime.
- C# has a large standard library that includes data structures, networking, web programming, database access, and other features.
- C# performs well due to its Just-In-Time compilation and garbage collection.
- C# is relatively easy to learn due to its object-oriented nature and clear documentation.
Golang vs. Java
Golang:
- Uses static typing, fast compilation times, no need for virtual machines or interpreters, type inference, clean syntax, supports concurrency, and allows for simple but powerful error handling.
- Uses just-in-time compilation, has native support for many different operating systems, is more lightweight and efficient than Java, and has faster compilation times.
- Has an extensive library of standard packages for common tasks, and a growing list of third-party packages for more specialized tasks. It also has several popular web frameworks, such as Gin and Echo.
- Has built-in security features such as memory safety, strict type checking, and secure code compilation.
- Supports both compiled and interpreted deployment options, allowing for easy deployment to multiple platforms.
- Offers a simple and intuitive syntax that makes coding easier and faster for developers, as well as extensive documentation and a helpful community.
- Has an active and growing ecosystem with various tools and libraries available for use.
- Has built-in garbage collection and memory management, making maintenance easier for developers.
Java:
- Uses static typing, requires a virtual machine or interpreter to run, requires verbose syntax, requires manual memory management, supports concurrency, and allows for complex error handling.
- Uses bytecode compilation, requires a virtual machine or interpreter to run, has a larger memory footprint than Golang, and can be slower to compile than Golang.
- Has an extensive library of standard packages for common tasks, and a wide variety of third-party libraries and frameworks for more specialized tasks. Popular web frameworks include Spring, Struts, and Hibernate.
- Has built-in security features such as bytecode verification, sandboxing, and automatic memory management.
- Requires compilation to a platform-specific bytecode format before deployment, which can be a time consuming process.
- Offers a verbose syntax that can be difficult to read and comprehend for new developers, as well as limited documentation and a sometimes unhelpful community.
- Has a mature and established ecosystem with an extensive library of tools and libraries available.
- Requires manual memory management and garbage collection that can be time-consuming for developers to maintain.
Golang In the Future
Golang is used for a variety of applications such as distributed networked services, network programming, cloud-native development, replacements for existing infrastructure, utilities and stand-alone tools, web development, database development, systems programming, and DevOps.
Due to its increasing popularity and the lack of available developers, Golang developers tend to receive a higher salary compared to other programmers. According to Caissa Recruitment, the average salary of a Golang Developer in Berlin, Germany, in 2021 is €72,000. The hourly rate is also higher than other programming languages such as Symfony, Zend, Laravel, PHP, and Java.
The demand for Golang Services is only increasing and businesses are increasingly looking for freelancers who have the ability to work with it, which in turn will stimulate the market and bring more developers into the fold. If you are interested in working with GoLang, it is worth the effort, as it will be here to stay for many years.
