Before we jump into advantages of golang over Java and Python , lets first of all let’s have a look at what is Golang. Golang also known as “Go” was launched by google in 2009. It is a procedural Programming language which simply means that it is based basically on the concept of procedure calls.
Procedure means sub routines or function containing a series of some instructions to be performed. It was generated in an era of multicore processing, large codebases (collection of source codes to built a software or application).
The goals during developing Go project at Google were to eliminate the slowness and clumsiness of software development at Google, and finally to make the process of devlopment productive and scalable. Thus for improving programming productivity and generate users interest it is a good programming language to be used by the programmers.
Best features of the C, Pascal, and Oberon programming languages are taken and are used to develop Go programming language. On go you can build large-scale, complex software. For working on Go you require a Text Editor and Go compiler. Go distribution comes as a binary installable for many platforms and is available on Golang official website. It is fast and easy to manage. Golang provides many development tools and features.
Advantages of Golang as a programming language:
1. Online IDE’s
The most important thing is using Golang. Consider if you are not able to install Golang on your system or having any problem then you can anytime use the online IDE’s which provide the Golang environment for developing Golang programs. eg: Jdoodle, play.golang.org
2. Open Source Project
The best advantage of this programming language is that it is an open source project. Therefore you as the user of this language can also contribute to its development. If you are stuck in a problem then Golang has a huge community to help you out. Golang user are increasing widely every year. It has a huge popularity on GitHub.
3. Language Design
The designers of this language have made the design simple and easy to understand. Efforts have been made to make small number of pages of codes and some of the design decision were made through Object Oriented Programming approach.
Also see : Best NoSQL databases list
4. Golang is Fast
Go is a speedy language. The programs made in Golang compile quite fast than you expect, and the resulting binary file is also small. Golang language is faster than many programming languages and also many Go programs can be edited and are able to run directly on the internet. It have a simple structure and syntax.
As already told that it is a procedural programming language, the language is based on functions and is easy to learn. As the functions are already compiled so Golang is faster in compiling the program. Development in Golang is faster and cheaper.
5. Cross-Platform
Golang is also a platform independent language same as java. The code compiled is converted is converted to a binary form which is as small as possible. The code can be compiled on any platform or application you want to. You don’t have to write different codes for different platforms. It is used for different platforms like Windows, Linux , Unix and many more.
6. Hardware Management
Golang is designed such that it uses very less memory while executing threads parallelly. Actually they are not threads they are called Goroutines. Goroutines can be considered as light weight threads which runs concurrently using very less memory than the actual threads take.
The cost of creating Goroutines is also very small. Like consider if a thread consumes 1MB then Goroutine will consume 3-4KB and also we can trigger multiple Goroutines at a time. So it can run on computers having less clock speed as compared to others.
7. Golang’s Garbage Collector
Golang has a Garbage Collector which acts as an automatic memory management. It basically removes the variables which goes out of their scope hence efficiently managing the memory usage and thus decreasing latency. It manages the concurrency in the program efficiently.
8. Statically typed
Go is a Statically typed language.When the variables are explicitly declared and are determined at compile time then the languages are called as statically typed languages.
This lets the compiler decide whether a given variable can perform the actions requested at the compile time. The compiler also ensure on type conversion and compatibility automatically. Therefore many problems that we face in the dynamically typed languages are removed here.
9. Test as you Code
Golang has a built in testing instrument. Using this you can test parallelly your code as you are building your program. Running parallel tests and marking tests, and many more benefits are provided by the testing package.
There is a testing package in Go which provides support for automated testing of Go files. Therefore it can also help you while you are preparing the documentation of your project.
10. Standard Library
Golang have a powerful standard Libraries which helps the user to undertake many high level task very quickly and efficiently. Hence saving your time and efforts.
11. Google Support
This is also an advantage as the Golang language is powered and backed by the Google which is one of the reason that people prefer to choose Golang. Google has designed Golang for scalability and effectiveness.
Google has provided tons of free official guides for Golang and made Golang open-source, so with the help of huge community now there’s a huge collection of add-ons and packages.
12. Rapid Development
Thanks to the Golang increasing society, Golang is growing very fast. Although the language is new but still it is growing very fast as it is an open source project. In 2017 survey there were 70% increase in the users than 2016.
Also see : Best Books For Coding Interviews
The Companies that use Golang currently !
Uber
Uber is using Golang programming language to write many of its services. Geobase is a services of uber written on Go programming language. This service of Uber helps to match the riders with the drivers. Go programming language powers a majority of QPS services at Uber and company is using Go for most of its work now.
The Golang is developed by google and is also used by google in its projects. Google also have a lot of services which are written in Go programming language. This service runs the dl.google.com-the source for Android SDK, Chrome, etc. Youtube and Golang.org also uses Golang for developing the user based services.
Using the Google App Engine’s native support for Go, allot of projects at google are developed and are currently being developed on Golang. Apart from this, Google uses Golang for their vast interval server infrastructure.
Twitch
Twitch is a online live streaming gaming platform which has gained a huge popularity. It is developed mainly for streaming games but users also streams some creative and musical contents on this platform. Some of the useful services of twitch are developed using C++ and Golang.
The transcode system of the Twitch transcodes the RTMP stream taken from the broadcaster and then transcodes it into various HLS streams. Apart from the transcode system, many other services which are used by Twitch are written on Golang. The distribution function provide the highest quality of streaming experience.
Dailymotion
Dailymotion is a video sharing website which is hosted in France. This platform also streams some high quality videos. For the automation of the End to End test cases and the automation of the API’s Dailymotion uses Golang.
It conduct hundred of test on Golang for the verification of their automation system. Golang is very fast ,reliable and powerful therefore many companiesuse it for automation testing. Because of its features like, static type checking, good performance and simplicity Dailymotion has developed many of its services on Golang.
Sendgrid
An online cloud-based email service known as Sendgrid which is responsible for delivering large number of emails on behalf of an organization or a company. The scalable, customizable and reliable APi’s of SendGrid are developed on Golang enviornment.
Medium
The Medium is an online content publishing platform and most of its services are maintained and also being developed by the Go programming language. Medium Neo4j database is managed through services developed on Golang.
In addition to this, for managing some image processing task and also for managing their backend Golang as a programming language is used by medium .
DropBox
Dropbox main goal is to centralize all the file created by the user at one folder. The files contained in this folder is synchronized with the Dropbox’s servers and to other computers and devices where the user has installed Dropbox, mainly for keeping the same files up-to-date on all devices.
Also see : Who is using golang in production ?
Conclusion on advantages of golang over Java and Python
So folks, these were the advantages of golang over other programming languages which serve the same purpose. So choose wisely, based on the usage that suits for your context.