Why I Like Golang and Why It's the Best Language for Me.

When I first started exploring programming languages, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available. Each language seemed to have its own strengths and weaknesses, making it difficult to choose the right one. However, after diving into Go, or Golang, as it's commonly known, I quickly realized that this language was not just a good fit—it was the perfect one for me. Here's why.

Simplicity in a World of Complexity

In the realm of web development, it's easy to get caught up in a sea of frameworks, libraries, and tools that promise to make your life easier but often end up complicating it. The web, after all, isn't as complex as game development or as sensitive as embedded systems. Yet, web developers frequently create their own job security through unnecessary complexity.

At its core, web development is straightforward: select data from a database, display it in a browser, take input from the user, and save it back to the database. But the tools we use today are often needlessly complicated, adding layers of abstraction that can make the simplest tasks feel like a monumental effort.

This is where Go shines. Go strips away the unnecessary layers, allowing you to focus on what truly matters. Its simplicity is refreshing in a world where other languages and frameworks seem to prioritize complexity over clarity.

Performance That Meets Real-World Needs

When it comes to choosing a programming language for web services, performance is always a consideration. For our team, Go was literally our only option. We needed a language that could handle 1 million+ records in a 256MB RAM container without breaking a sweat. This ruled out many popular options.

We use Go with AWS Lambda, and it’s not just about CPU performance but also RAM usage. Even with advanced technologies like Bun, JIT, and interpreted languages like JavaScript and Python, we couldn’t find a solution that worked as efficiently as Go. Java and C# were also contenders, but their memory overhead due to their virtual machines made them unsuitable for our needs.

Go emerged as the best alternative for cheap microservices with robust AWS SDK support and a low learning curve. The cross-compiling capabilities of Go are also fantastic, which is crucial for us since we use ARM-based Lambdas, further reducing our costs. All of this is packed into a lightweight 10-16 MB binary, making Go an incredibly efficient choice.

Built-In Tools for a Streamlined Experience

One of the aspects of Go that I appreciate the most is how it simplifies the development environment. In many languages, you have to worry about setting up and maintaining various tools—like prettier for code formatting, test runners for unit testing, and package managers for dependency management.

Go, however, takes care of all of this for you. The language comes with built-in tools that handle these tasks seamlessly, so you don’t need to worry about the tooling around your dev environment. This streamlines the development process and allows you to focus on writing code rather than configuring your setup.

Conclusion: The Go Advantage

In conclusion, Go is more than just a programming language for me—it’s a philosophy. Its emphasis on simplicity, efficiency, and practicality makes it the best language for my needs. Whether you're dealing with the challenges of web development or the demands of cloud-based services, Go provides a straightforward, powerful solution that stands out in a crowded field.

Choosing Go wasn’t just a decision; it was the right decision. For anyone looking to simplify their development process while still delivering high-performance, cost-effective solutions, Go is the language to consider.