The advantages of Go

For researchers attempting to improve state-of-the-art algorithms in an academic environment, Go may not be the best choice. However, for a start-up with a product concept and fast-dwindling cash reserves, completing the development of the product in a maintainable and reliable way within a short space of time is essential, and this is where the Go language shines.

Go (or Golang) originates from Google, where its design began in 2007[10]. Its stated objectives were to create an efficient, compiled programming language that feels lightweight and pleasant[11]. Go benefits from a number of features that are designed to boost productivity and reliability of production applications:

• Easy to learn and on-board new developers
• Fast build time
• Good performance at run-time
• Great concurrency support
• Excellent standard library
• Type safety
• Easy-to-read, standardized code with gofmt
• Forced error handling to minimize unforeseen exceptions
• Explicit, clear dependency management
• Easy to adapt architecture as projects grow

All these reasons make Go an excellent language for building production systems, particularly web applications. The 2018 Stack Overflow developer survey reveals that while only 7% of professional developers use Go as their main language, it is 5th on the most loved list and also commands very high salaries relative to other languages, recognizing the business value that Go programmers add[12].