Go Web Development

Introduction

Go was created to be easy to use and suitable for large, complex projects. It seems that it fulfilled its purpose and became a popular solution among the biggest players.

Let’s take a closer look at Go web development, find out who uses it and investigate why.

Also, there’s an easy way to start your first project with Go (and we explain it step by step).

Note: the content below is going to be a whole handbook about Go web development. If you’re interested, sing up for updates and we’ll notify when new chapters are published.

Go web development basics

Go is an interesting programming language written by Google’s employees that has existed on the market since 2009.

When professionals are asked about Go, they usually mention: the speed of action, the maturity of standard libraries and the ease of learning, etc. By reading the countless advantages of a language, it is easy to convince yourself to give it a chance.

Go was created in Google, by experienced programmers, who wanted to establish a simpler solution than those available back in 2007.

It was meant to be easy to use and suitable even for the most complex projects (and make it easier to debug them).

Golang examples – Top 7 companies using Go

Go web development became popular among the big players. So what are the most famous companies using it?

• Google
• Uber
• Twitch
• Dailymotion
• SendGrid
• Dropbox
• SoundCloud

Why is Go so popular for web development?

It provides simple code

Go contains a small number of concepts that are well-known from other languages. That way, it provides developers with a very simple code, so they don’t have to go through many lines of code.

It’s perfect for large projects

Complex project require the cooperation between many programmers, who need to handle many lines of code. Golang makes those problems easier to deal with because of the simplicity of the code. Teams choose Golang exactly because more complicated projects can be completed faster and work is more efficient.

It works with one problem – one solution philosophy

Go promotes the philosophy that there should be a small number of solutions to one problem. This facilitates the cooperation of large teams and has additional advantages like making the code work faster and more efficiently.

How to start with Go – Building your first Go application

Before you start the first Go web development project, there are many questions to answer and doubts to clear.

Which framework to choose? Our advice is to choose 4-5 most popular ones (those actively developed), review each one of them thoroughly, and choose the one most suitable for your case.

Which directory structure to choose? It is a very complicated matter that depends on many factors, but one of the options is to follow the Onion Architecture.

Should I use a DI container? Begin with the rule that you inject dependencies to the lower layers of your application. When you decide that you need a DI container, you will be able to add it to the project easily.

Next steps

Go allows development teams to handle even the most complex project with ease. One problem – one solution philosophy also promotes the efficiency of development process.

If you want to learn more about the companies that use Go for web development and discover the reasons why, proceed to the next chapter of this handbook.