Installing Golang on Windows

Step 1: Download the Installer

Visit the official Go download page: https://go.dev/dl/
Download the Windows installer package (.msi) file. The filename will be similar to go<version>.windows-amd64.msi.

Step 2: Install Golang

Run the downloaded .msi file.
Follow the prompts in the installer to complete the installation.

Step 3: Verify the Installation

Open the Command Prompt or PowerShell.
Verify the installation by running the following command:

go version

You should see the Go version information if the installation was successful.

Step 4: Set Up the Go Environment

Open the Environment Variables dialog:

Right-click on This PC or Computer on the desktop or in File Explorer.
Select Properties.
Click on Advanced system settings.
Click on the Environment Variables button.

Add a new user variable:

Variable name: GOPATH
Variable value: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\go

Edit the Path variable in the System variables section and add a new entry:

C:\Go\bin
%GOPATH%\bin

Installing Golang on macOS

Step 1: Download the Installer

Visit the official Go download page: https://go.dev/dl/
Download the macOS installer package (.pkg) file. The filename will be similar to go<version>.darwin-amd64.pkg.

Step 2: Install Golang

Open the downloaded .pkg file.
Follow the prompts in the installer to complete the installation.

Step 3: Verify the Installation

Open the Terminal application.
Verify the installation by running the following command:

go version

You should see the Go version information if the installation was successful.

Step 4: Set Up the Go Environment

Open or create a .bash_profile or .zshrc file in your home directory.
Add the following lines to set up the Go environment variables:

export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin

Apply the changes by running:

source ~/.bash_profile  # or source ~/.zshrc

Installing Golang on Linux

Step 1: Download the Archive

Visit the official Go download page: https://go.dev/dl/
Download the Linux tarball (.tar.gz) file. The filename will be similar to go<version>.linux-amd64.tar.gz.

Step 2: Install Golang

Open a Terminal window.
Extract the tarball to /usr/local:

sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go<version>.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Step 3: Set Up the Go Environment

Open or create a .bashrc or .zshrc file in your home directory.
Add the following lines to set up the Go environment variables:

export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin

Apply the changes by running:

source ~/.bashrc  # or source ~/.zshrc

Step 4: Verify the Installation

Open a Terminal window.
Verify the installation by running the following command:

go version

You should see the Go version information if the installation was successful.

Following these steps, you should have Golang successfully installed on macOS, Windows, and Linux. You are now ready to start developing with Go!

Installing Golang using Docker

This guide will walk you through installing and running Golang using Docker on any platform that supports Docker. This approach allows you to use Golang without having to install it directly on your system.

Prerequisites

Ensure Docker is installed on your machine. If Docker is not installed, you can download and install it from Docker’s official website.

Steps to Install and Run Golang with Docker

Step 1: Pull the Official Golang Docker Image

Open your terminal (Command Prompt, PowerShell, or any terminal application).
Pull the official Golang Docker image by running the following command:

docker pull golang

Step 2: Run a Golang Container

You can start a Golang container with a specific version or the latest version. Below are examples for both scenarios.

Running the Latest Version

Run the following command to start a container with the latest version of Golang:

docker run -it --name golang-container golang

Running a Specific Version

Visit the official Golang Docker Hub page to find the specific version tag you need.
Run the following command, replacing <version> with your desired version (e.g., 1.16):

docker run -it --name golang-container golang:<version>

Step 3: Verify the Installation

Once inside the container, verify the Golang installation by running:

go version

You should see the Go version information if the installation was successful.

Step 4: Write and Run a Simple Go Program

Create a new Go file, for example, hello.go:

echo 'package main; import "fmt"; func main() { fmt.Println("Hello, Docker!") }' > hello.go

Run the Go program:

go run hello.go

You should see the output:

Hello, Docker!

Step 5: Persisting Work

By default, any work done inside the container will be lost once the container is stopped and removed. To persist your work, you can mount a local directory to the container.

Create a local directory to store your Go workspace, for example:

mkdir -p ~/go-workspace

Run the Golang container with the local directory mounted:

docker run -it --name golang-container -v ~/go-workspace:/go golang

Now, any files created or modified within the /go directory inside the container will be reflected in your local ~/go-workspace directory.

Step 6: Stopping and Removing the Container

To stop the running container, use the following command in another terminal:

docker stop golang-container

To remove the container, use:

docker rm golang-container

Additional Tips

To list all Docker containers, run:

docker ps -a

To start an existing container, run:

docker start -i golang-container

To remove all stopped containers, run:

docker container prune

Following these steps, you should be able to install and run Golang using Docker on any system that supports Docker. This method allows you to keep your development environment clean and isolated.

VS Code Environment

When using VS Code we recommend installing the following extensions:

Golang VS Code

Go language support for Visual Studio Code.

Docker

Makes it easy to create, manage, and debug containerized applications.

CLI Tooling

The tooling CLI tooling would be beneficial to have setup:

Docker

Makefile

GVM

More details coming soon

Cloud based Development Environments

To facilitate a seamless development experience, the project provides various cloud-based development environments and tools. These environments allow you to quickly set up a development workspace without the need for manual configuration or setup. Choose from the following options to get started:

DevContainers are available for this project. Use the following Visual Studio Code-based development environments to get started.
Gitpod is available for this project enabling you to start a ready-to-code dev environment in your browser.