Writing Your First Go Program

Go (or Golang) is a powerful and efficient programming language designed by Google. It is known for its simplicity, concurrency support, and fast execution. Let's begin our Go journey with the most basic program: "Hello, World!"

Code Example:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, World!")
}

Understanding the Code

Let's break down each part of the program:

1. Package Declaration

package main
Every Go program starts with a package declaration. The main package is special—it defines an executable program. If you don’t use main, the program won’t run as a standalone application.

2. Importing Packages

import "fmt"
Go uses the import keyword to bring in external packages. The "fmt" package (short for format) provides functions for formatting text, including printing to the console.

3. Defining the main Function

func main()
The main() function is the entry point of every Go program. When you run the program, execution starts from this function.

4. Printing to the Console

fmt.Println("Hello, World!")

• fmt.Println() prints a message to the console.
• "Hello, World!" is a string, and Println() outputs it with a newline.

Running the Program

Once you've saved your code in main.go, open a terminal and run:

go run main.go

This command compiles and executes the program, displaying:

Hello, World!

Summary

• Every Go program must have a main package and a main() function.
• The fmt package is used for printing output.
• go run is used to execute the program.

This is the foundation of Go programming. Next, we'll explore variables and data types!