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The idea behind creating Go language was to make developers’ lives easier in building quick and easy applications. While JavaScript and Python are the most popular and the most studied languages, Golang is the newer generation promising language by virtue of incorporated technologies. Golang is vastly used by such giants as Google, Apple, Facebook, Docker, BBC and The New York Times.
How does Go language work?
Go is built on C and has a lot in common syntax wise with this programming language. It is a compiled language, which means when developers write a source code, they have to compile it and it will generate a machine code directly. It will be true to say that C and C++ work similarly, however Go was upgraded and improved, becoming a very minimalistic language. Having very few features, it enables developers to perform many functions. Go allows managing memory safely avoiding memory leaks, which makes it particularly popular in the Fintech industry. In addition, Go has high level of security, speed and high modularity. There is high probability that in the future all websites, applications and even web services will be built on Go.
Let us look at the key advantages and disadvantages of Go language.
Go advantages:
– Fast. Go is faster than Python or Java, it is easy to read, requires no interpretation and thus has fast compilation speed. It uses less memory, which results in faster work.
– Easy to learn. Go has fewer features to focus on but similar approach to other languages, which makes it easy to learn compared to Java, for instance.
– Built with concurrency. Goroutines and Channels allow focusing on multiple processes at the same time and on the same core, similar to parallel programming.
– Function over form. Golang has a clear syntax. With non-blocking Goroutines, Go provides functions that enable independent and simultaneous work. The range of application for Golang goes from system and network programming to big data, machine learning, audio and video editing.
– Open source. Go is an open-source language, which allows downloading all necessary tools like IDE, editors and plugins for smooth performance of your team.
– Cross platform. Go is a cross platform language that can run on Linux, Windows and Mac.
– Safe. Golang uses less memory by virtue of Goroutines, thus reduces the risks of crashing.
– Has garbage collection. Golang controls the memory management by adjusting to the levels of CPU and levels of memory you want to use.
– Expanding talent pool. Go is gaining popularity, and this is reflected in the number of professionals working with this programming language. Besides, Go provides a number of courses to learn the language. Depending on your needs you can choose one of the following programs and accomplish your learning within just a few days, especially if you have prior experience working with other programming languages. Go offers courses on Automatic documentation, Static code analysis, Embedded testing environment, Race condition detection.
Go disadvantages:
– Lack of graphic user interface. Go has basic UI, but it may take an extra effort to connect a library to your application without a native solution.
– Lack of generics does not allow writing a code that can be reusable.
– Very strict stylistic mindset.
– Less support compared to other well-established languages like Python or C.
Like any other programming language, Go works well for certain tasks including application development, web development, operations and infrastructure and Cloud Native infrastructure. It is a great language in term of scalability, where resources depend on your hardware. Backend developers working with overloaded servers will particularly benefit from Golang.
Here at Magnise, we have a team of experienced professionals who specialise at Golang and can help you implement your ideas into a successful application. Contact us to get more details.
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