5 reasons to use GoLang

C, Java, Javascript, Python, PHP, each language has its pros and cons, its paradigm, its ways of compiling, interpreting, functions and syntax. But what happens when you gather the best of each one in one place? A super language with super powers is born: GoLang or Go.

What makes it so powerful?

GoLang brings the best parts of many worlds together. It is an open source programming language, easy to learn and with a concise, clean and efficient syntax. Its unique features that differentiate it from others are based on the fact that it takes from each of the other languages the best they have. These characteristics can be summarized in 5 major advantages for the use of the language.

1- It can compile for any operating system and on any operating system. It is cross platform compiled and takes ideas from interpreted languages. For example, you are on Linux and you can compile for Windows or vice versa. In addition, when creating in machine code, to run in the cloud you just upload the executable file to the server, without the need to create environments for this. In turn, this makes compilation much faster. You can test your code quickly. You write and run. It's that simple. And the typing is static but it brings some dynamic qualities such as declaring variables without indicating the data type, although you can not modify it later.

2- Its syntax is very simple and easy to understand. By having something of each language, it is easy for any programmer to apply it. And why is it simple? All Go files have to belong to a package. When you install the language, it comes with all the packages you need, unlike other languages where you have to bring in third-party library packages. In addition, you can configure your code editor to bring you the package you need, at the moment you need it. For example, you are on line 500 and instead of going back to line 1 to import another code, you write it right there and it is automatically imported. This allows you to work faster. The simplicity of the language is also seen when you only need to put the first letter in upper or lower case to define if the variable will be private or public.

package main


import "fmt"


var noExportada string
var Exportada string


func main () {
     saludo := "Hola bitlogic"


     fmt.Println (saludo)
}

3- It allows you to code quickly by having a pre-defined style guide and keep the code clean and stable with its garbage collector system. It saves you from having to define with the team the styles and elements to use. And it makes learning the language much faster. And at the same time, it keeps the code neat and reduced since it eliminates what you don't use anymore.

4- It is efficient because of its multi-paradigm features and its concurrent way to execute tasks. You can do structured, functional programming, except for the classic object-oriented type of programming. This can be a disadvantage, in quotation marks, since we usually study programming under that paradigm and Go does not use it, although it lets you implement it with some variations. Also, it is a natively concurrent language. Concurrency means that it allows you to execute tasks in bits and pieces. That is, you advance one task and you can start the other. And so on. All on a single processor. They are not simultaneous but tasks are interleaved very quickly so that many tasks can be executed. As opposed to using parallelism to run processes/tasks simultaneously which requires one processor and one task per process.

5- It allows thinking about business logic and development. The simplicity and speed of the language for the reasons mentioned above, plus some other technical features such as not allowing exceptions or support inheritance, means that at the time of programming must be defined in advance what is intended for the business. In addition, all web development could be done with Go. It works especially for backend but also allows you to create templates for the view on your own web server.

What things can be done with GoLang?

There are four main areas where Go stands out due to the advantages mentioned above:

• Cloud and networking. Services and microservices.
• System scripting.
• Automations for devops.
• Web.

In Bitlogic this language is part of the technology stack of many projects. In the fintech sector is where its use is more prioritized because of its powerful feature to support transactions. But we also use it for projects in the education sector.

Together with the Catholic University of Cordoba, we are working on the replacement of their websites plus a CMS for content management. In turn, the development and maintenance project of the G-SE platform for training and professional development of users is also developed in this powerful language. We also provide support to Mercado Libre in integrations and payment gateways, connections with payment processors in multiple countries and the backend in each of these projects is developed with Go.

Some learnings about using GoLang beyond just sitting and coding

The simplicity and speed with which it is programmed allows you to focus on the business development logic and nothing else. There is no need to install environments, libraries, or set up code packages. You program in Go and go to production very quickly. It gives you more time to think about how to improve the business than to see how to build it.

The speed of learning the language is also an added value for software companies where talent turnover is a constant. Learning is so fast and the language is so simple that it shortens induction times. In two weeks, any programmer can be writing with Go.

And finally, GoLang is becoming one of the most in-demand languages in the industry. That is to say, there is a great demand for programmers with this language but little supply. And this is due precisely to its ease, simplicity and speed of execution, but on the other hand it is a very new language, it is only 10 years old since its first stable version was in 2012.

Businesses need it and from Bitlogic we understood that need.

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