First appearing in November 2009, Go (also known as GoLang) is a simple, accessible compiled language.
In StackOverflow’s 2021 Developer Survey, 62.74% of respondents cited Go as their most loved language, with Go also coming fourth on the list of most wanted languages.
HackerRank revealed Go to be the number 1 language that developers want to learn in their 2020 survey, for the third year running.
Though Go may not have the reputation of programming languages like Python or JavaScript, owing to its early-stage status, Go is continuing to rise in popularity as a language that many developers want to learn.
But what is Go and why is it becoming more popular among developers?
‘Build fast, reliable, and efficient software at scale’, are the words you’ll see when landing on Go’s website.
An open-source programming language supported by Google, Go is widely considered to be a simple, easy to learn language in comparison to other popular options.
The likes of PayPal, Netflix, Uber, Dropbox, and Twitter use Go to power their software.
Given that it is still a relatively immature language compared to the likes of JavaScript, the rising popularity of Go and the increasing number of developers looking to learn the language make it clear that Go’s upward trajectory is only going to continue.
Though Go was originally built for programs related to networking and infrastructure, Go now has a variety of uses.
Programs that are written in Go generally run faster than programs that are written in other programming languages, which is a huge advantage.
Now that we’ve covered what GoLang is and how it can be used, let’s get into why GoLang is becoming so popular among developers…
In comparison to the other languages that are most popular with developers, Go is a straightforward, simple language.
This isn’t by accident – Go was designed to be simple, with 25 keywords that are designed to be versatile specifically for ease of use.
For developers who already have even just the basics of programming or a couple of other languages under their belt, Go is a fast language to learn even from the specification alone.
The interface is minimal and there is automatically generated documentation with testable examples when using Go, alongside the clear code separation offered by the constructed packages that programs are constructed from within the language.
Primarily, though, Go has built-in frameworks for testing and profiling that are easy to learn and small, and though there is a range of third-party add-ons, these likely won’t even be necessary.
The simplicity of the language is a definite bonus for developers looking for another language to add to their skillset.
The simplicity of GoLang goes hand-in-hand with the flexibility it offers – Go was created to be easy to learn so that it can solve issues quickly and efficiently.
Go is compilable on nearly any machine and has a long list of potential uses which keep it adaptable without any unnecessary additions.
Additionally, the automation offered by Go is extremely advantageous – automatic declaration of variables, fast compile times – and can save developers a lot of time.
Go also has a flexible approach when it comes to path to data abstraction and object-oriented development.
A potential salary increase is a definite bonus in any industry, and for developers who are proficient in Go, this is just another advantage of the language.
HackerRank found that those who know Go make 33.4% more than the average developer – though this can also be correlated with seniority, there is still an average salary associated with each language a developer knows.
This means that simplicity and flexibility aren’t the only incentives to learn Go, as there is now a financial incentive too.
It should be noted that though this is a correlation and not a causation, there are key factors contributing to this correlation.
For example, the host of large companies (as mentioned earlier) that use GoLang is a definite contributor, with the rise of microservice architectures motivating this adoption.
These companies generally pay top market rates to attract the best developer talent and Go also offers developers the opportunity to use a simple, flexible language.
Both developers and companies alike benefit from the use of Go.
The impact of cloud computing on the tech industry can’t be understated, and the rise of cloud computing also necessitated a demand for technologies that can help teams accurately manage their architectures on the cloud.
Some of the most popular technologies to manage applications onto the cloud are built with Go, such as Terraform, an open-source infrastructure as code software that can provide a consistent CLI workflow to manage hundreds of cloud services.
This software is being increasingly written in Go, owing to Go’s ability when it comes to multi-core servers and speed in comparison to other languages, alongside its compatibility with a variety of operating systems.
This makes Go a prominent feature in any business utilising cloud software, whether they are aware of it or not.
Programming languages can rise and fall in popularity over time, and it is highly unlikely that one language will become the predominant, sole language utilised by nearly all developers.
With this in mind, it is still important to note the significant strides Go has made in spite of being such a recent addition.
Most importantly, the demand from developers to learn this language combined with the rising prominence of Go in tandem with the rise of cloud computing means that Go is only going to continue rising in popularity.
And with such efficiency and simplicity, it’s no surprise why Go will remain popular with developers, too.
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