Exploring the Unique Approach of Go Programming Language
Mar 29, 2024
Go, a programming language crafted by Google, stands as a testament to the pursuit of enhanced productivity and seamless collaboration in software development. Its inception was driven by the imperative to accelerate development velocity while fostering a culture of cooperation among developers. However, Go has combination of efficiency with remarkable performance, scalability, and an intuitive approach to low-level concepts. Herein a closer look at Go approach to make it unique from another programing language.
Simple and Minimalistic
Go is known for having the least syntax among popular programming languages. Its syntax is minimalistic and straightforward. For instance, Go doesn't use any syntax to export variables and functions to another module, instead, you can simply capitalize the name to indicate that the function is accessible to another module. In terms of usability, Go is also minimalist yet surprisingly easy to understand. For example, its looping syntax doesn't include constructs like 'while' or 'map' to define a loop. This approach might seem strange to some, but for those who already familiar to it, can prefer it more for its clarity and readability. However, this minimalistic and simple approach means that Go lacks modern features like ternary operators and complex type systems. According to Rob Pike, adding more features to Go would only increase complexity and make it become similar to other languages more closely. Additionally, Go's syntax is inspired by Unix. Therefore, if you're familiar with working in the Linux and MacOS command-line interfaces, you'll likely find using Go commands and file systems intuitive.
Performance
Go introduces Goroutines, a concurrency pattern that allows us to write programs that run concurrently, leveraging all CPU resources to achieve higher execution speeds. Under the hood, Goroutines utilize green threads, which are more 'cost-effective' than actual threads provided by the operating system. They can also enable Goroutines to run across multiple threads, even if the hardware only has one core. Go is renowned as the best language for working with large codebases. Go code compiles quicker than most compiled languages such as C++ and Rust. This is one of several reasons why Go was created at Google in 2009—compile times could consume too many resources at Google's scale, and employing an efficient programming language was the optimal solution. Furthermore, Go is one of the few low-level programming languages that include a garbage collector. This unique approach ensures that Go maintains decent performance while still offering a relatively simple learning curve compared to other languages. Additionally, Go allows the use of pointers, providing users with more control over memory layout and aiding in identifying mutable states.
Full Featured Standard Library
Standard library in Go proven to be very useful and one of the best among programming languages. The Go developer community often recommends utilizing the standard library over third-party options, as most of the time, it proves to be the best choice and reduces dependence on external code. Go's decision to include all necessary and frequently used packages in its standard library is one of the features that I appreciate the most. Relying on libraries developed by others may not pose a problem for short-term projects, but for projects requiring long-term maintenance, there's no guarantee that the packages you download will still be maintained or functional when updating dependencies. This approach also limits us as Go developers in choosing the libraries for our projects, researching and selecting a library with a solid implementation, the best API, and all the necessary features often consumes a significant amount of time and resources in the early stages of development. Making the wrong choice of framework or library can lead to serious problems in the long term. Opinionated frameworks with a lot of features can accelerate code development and make it easier for new contributors who are already familiar with them to understand the code base. However, if you need to employ different patterns, add custom features, or integrate with new uncommon services to your chosen framework, it can become stressful and time-consuming.
Robust Error Handling
Error handling is often a point of contention in the Go language, which has a unique approach compared to other languages. Go's ability to return multiple values at once allows us to manage errors and function results using different states. This makes it easier to handle each error uniquely and know how to respond at every layer of our application. Unlike in other languages, error handling in Go is an “opt-out“ solution, you must actively choose to ignore error returns if a function is prone to errors. This approach forces us to be more aware of all possibilities that could occur in our application. However, this error handling approach is also a point of criticism in Go. When using many error checks within one function, the code can appear messy and goes against the principle of DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) code. Based on my experience as a software developer, I've found that following too strictly and too DRY principles can result in code that is easy to read but difficult to maintain. Excessive layers of abstraction and polymorphism may make the general purpose of a block of code easier to understand but can complicate debug, especially when trying to identify the specific code responsible for an error. While I can understand the frustration some developers may feel with Go's error handling approach, particularly in experimental development, I believe it could be improved by supporting features like a ternary operator for error checking in a single line, instead of the usual if statement which typically requires at least three lines to complete.
Widely Adopted
Low-level languages like C, C++, and Rust are versatile and capable of developing software for various purposes. However, it's uncommon to see these languages used in developing high-level software that doesn't require low-level latency and manual memory control. When integrating services like payment gateways or message brokers, the documentation often favors popular languages such as Go, Node.js, and PHP. This preference can influence the choice of language, especially if you depend on services that only officially support certain languages. Although Go may not be as popular as Python and JavaScript but many common tools for building scalable, high-traffic software often feature Go in their official documentation as an example of API usage. Go isn't strictly a high-level language but also doesn't require manual memory management in basic use cases. This makes Go well-suited for building both low-level tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and Fedora Core OS, as well as high-level applications like web servers that prioritize business logic. Thanks to its compiler, which can produce a single binary file, deploying Go applications is straightforward, making Go compatible with various platforms. Additionally, Go has native support for services like AWS Lambda, alleviating concerns about deployment compatibility.
Strict Typing
Type safety stands out as one of Go's strongest points. Go's approach to type safety is not overly complex but remains very useful for handling large code base. If you've worked with large teams on software development projects, you likely understand the challenges of using dynamic types for collaboration. Strict typing can facilitate faster progress when working with other people's code or unfamiliar external libraries. For those transitioning from high-level languages, implementing strict typing may seem to add complexity to the code base. In some cases, such as when dealing with JSON data or creating prototype models, strict typing may present challenges. However, it proves to be incredibly helpful and satisfying when aiming to develop robust code. Strict typing can make easy think harder but also can make hard think easier. However, Go, prioritizing simplicity and performance that make Go lacks of certain features such as union types and type inference. If you're familiar to statically but weakly typed languages like TypeScript, transitioning to Go may require some effort due to these missing features. Additionally, strong typing can make polymorphic thinking more challenging since you can't manipulate the code to satisfy the compiler. This necessity prompts Go to implement high-level features like generics to address this issues.
Conclusion
Type safety stands out as one of Go's strongest points. Go's approach to type safety is not overly complex but remains very useful for handling large code base. If you've worked with large teams on software development projects, you likely understand the challenges of using dynamic types for collaboration. Strict typing can facilitate faster progress when working with other people's code or unfamiliar external libraries. For those transitioning from high-level languages, implementing strict typing may seem to add complexity to the code base. In some cases, such as when dealing with JSON data or creating prototype models, strict typing may present challenges. However, it proves to be incredibly helpful and satisfying when aiming to develop robust code. Strict typing can make easy think harder but also can make hard think easier. However, Go, prioritizing simplicity and performance that make Go lacks of certain features such as union types and type inference. If you're familiar to statically but weakly typed languages like TypeScript, transitioning to Go may require some effort due to these missing features. Additionally, strong typing can make polymorphic thinking more challenging since you can't manipulate the code to satisfy the compiler. This necessity prompts Go to implement high-level features like generics to address this issues.
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