The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Best IDE for Golang

You’re on the lookout for the best IDE for Golang, huh? Well, my friend, you’ve come to the right place! I know the struggle of sifting through countless options, but fear not – I’m here to guide you through this wild terrain.

Here’s our roadmap:

Essential features you can’t miss
User-friendliness, because who doesn’t love that?
Integration mojo

Trust me, picking the perfect IDE will make your Golang development a walk in the park. We’ll dive into some top contenders, comparing their strengths, usability, and how well they blend with other tools.

How To Choose The Best IDE For Go Development

In the software development process, choose the appropriate IDE for your Golang project is crucial, particularly if you lack a lot of programming knowledge. Take into account the following elements to make sure you choose an integrated development environment that is appropriate for your development methodology.

Consider the Type of Go Project You’re Working On
Assess the Features Contained in the Go IDE
Consider Ease of Use
Think About the Cost of the Go IDE

And let’s look at them in more detail.

Goland

A cross-platform IDE created specifically for Go developers is called Goland. It is a paid tool with fantastic capabilities, tool integration, and full coding assistance that significantly aids in creating high-end software with Go. Goland, a commercial IDE, offers a user-friendly environment that is broad and supported by extra tools as soon as you begin using it.

GoLand is an advanced yet for-profit IDE. It comes from JetBrains, the company behind IntelliJ. It provides excellent tool integration and coding support. With extra tools in the debugger, the GoLand IDE aids in speedy navigation, smart error analysis, refactoring, and source code analysis.

IntelliJ IDEA

The vast majority of developers use it because it is one of the most well-liked and effective integrated development environments available today. Installing a Golang support plug-in is required for IntelliJIDEA to support the Go language. This IDE uses a quick indexing strategy that offers contextual clues for import suggestions and auto-completion object members for the IDE. On-the-fly error identification and refactorization is a crucial component that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Online GO Lang IDE

Using only an active internet connection and a web browser, it is a free online compiler and code editor that allows users to save, run, and share code anytime, anywhere. Choose a programming language of your choice, create some code, and then assess the output.

JDoodle is a straightforward but effective framework for Go development. It is simple to compile, run, and distribute a programme thanks to the integration tools. In order for you to create and test your web server applications, JDoodle also provides an API service. You can also distribute your source code to any platform.

LiteIDE

The open-source, straightforward LiteIDE integrated development environment is a tool. Use its Golang building environment management to create and edit Golang projects. Together with Golang, Markdown and Golang Present are supported. Web developers can use LitIDE for Golang, which offers a straightforward code editor, customizable build commands, MIME-type support, system environment control, add-ons, and many other capabilities. It also allows quick file opening, commands, and symbols, as well as file search, reversal, and replacement.

Komodo

You can use Komodo, another free IDE, to programme in the Go language. This programme is cross-platform and has a multilingual editor. The editor features a sidebar and a simple UI. The open files and projects are displayed in the sidebar. The editor has a lot of helpful features. You can traverse the file with the help of the shown code map. For many programming languages, it can track changes and make autocompletion suggestions. In addition, this IDE integrates Docker, Gulp, Grunt, NPM, and Yarn. Real-time collaboration is another feature that enables you to work on a project with others.

Zeus IDE

Zeus is a Windows-based IDE for programmers that supports multiple languages. The most recent Zeus updates have incorporated various Go-specific capabilities in addition to its general language features like automated brace insertion, code indenting, code folding, and code completion. Zeus also includes a large number of macros that improve the IDE’s compatibility with Go utilities like gocode, which provides code navigation, auto-complete, and documentation, as well as tools like gofmt and goimports, which automatically format code each time a Go file is saved.

Moreover, Go Guru, repair, vet, gorename, and gobuild have their own macros. Not to mention, Zeus now also functions with the Delve debugger.

Replit

Replit is a cross-platform IDE that is inexpensive and simple to use. It gives users the resources they need to quickly write and generate code as well as share and distribute useful apps. The price ranges for this development environment vary. The hacker and development team packages start at $7 a month, while the beginning pack is free but has very few features.

Eclipse IDE

Another piece of software that developers can use to create clear, effective, and efficient Go code is Eclipse IDE. Despite the fact that the platform is designed in Java and that developers generally use it to create Java apps, it has a wide variety of plugins that support many languages. Depending on your preferred programming language, it offers a number of packages that extend its capabilities. It is free and open-source.

Eclipse IDE users that use Go must install one of the many plugins that are offered. Go-CodeMix and GoClipse are a couple of these.

Go source code editing with automatic indentation, syntax highlighting, and brace completion is made possible with the GoClipse Eclipse plugin. Debugging features and code support are also included.

Vim with vim-go plugin

Vim may function as a true Go IDE even though it is not a complete IDE by itself when the vim-go plugin is installed. Vim is a powerful text editor designed to facilitate effective text editing. Despite the high learning curve, you will become accustomed to it with time. A debugger, code completion, formatting on save, code navigation, and code linting are among the features. Syntax highlighting and folding are also included.

Visual Studio Code

For Go programmers, Visual Studio Code has a Go extension. The plugin, vscode-go, has several Go tools that provide Go programmers with language capabilities like IntelliSense, code navigation, symbol search, bracket matching, snippets, and more. Decades of languages are supported by VS Code, a component of Visual Studio.

FAQ on the best IDE for Golang

Why use an IDE for Golang development?

Using an IDE for Golang development can significantly improve your productivity and overall experience. IDEs often provide features tailored for Go, such as:

Code completion
Syntax highlighting
Error checking
Integrated build tools
Debugging capabilities
Version control

These features make the development process more efficient and enjoyable.

Which IDEs are popular for Golang development?

There are several popular IDEs suitable for Golang development, including:

Visual Studio Code
GoLand
LiteIDE
Sublime Text

What makes Visual Studio Code suitable for Golang development?

Visual Studio Code is a powerful and versatile IDE with extensive support for Golang. Some of its key features include:

Built-in support for Go syntax
A large ecosystem of extensions for Golang development
Integrated terminal
Built-in Git support
Customizable interface

By installing the “Go” extension, you can further enhance your Golang development experience in Visual Studio Code.

Is GoLand a good choice for Golang development?

Absolutely! GoLand is a popular IDE specifically designed for Golang development, created by JetBrains. Key features include:

Intelligent code completion
Built-in support for Go syntax
Debugging tools
Integrated version control
Integration with build tools like Docker and Kubernetes

GoLand is a paid product, but many developers find the investment worthwhile due to its powerful features and seamless integration.

Can I use LiteIDE for Golang development?

Yes, LiteIDE is a lightweight and open-source IDE designed specifically for Golang development. It offers features such as:

Code completion
Syntax highlighting
Integrated build tools
Debugging capabilities
Cross-platform support

LiteIDE can be a great choice if you’re looking for a dedicated IDE for Golang development that is both lightweight and powerful.

How do I set up Sublime Text for Golang development?

To set up Sublime Text for Golang development, you’ll need to install several packages, such as:

GoSublime (for syntax highlighting, error checking, and code completion)
Gofmt (for formatting your Go code)
SublimeLinter-contrib-golangci-lint (for linting your Go code)

After installing these packages, you’ll have a lightweight yet powerful environment for Golang development.

What are some useful Visual Studio Code extensions for Golang development?

Some of the popular Visual Studio Code extensions for Golang development include:

Go (for code completion, error checking, and debugging)
GolangCI-Lint (for linting Go code)
Go Test Explorer (for running and managing Go tests)
Go Generate Tools (for working with go generate)

These extensions can help improve your Golang development experience in Visual Studio Code.

Are there online IDEs for Golang development?

Yes, there are several online IDEs and platforms suitable for Golang development, such as:

Replit
Go Playground
SourceLair

These platforms allow you to create, edit, and test Golang applications directly in your web browser, making them a convenient option for quickly prototyping or collaborating on projects.

Can I develop Golang apps using a simple text editor?

While it’s possible to develop Golang apps using a simple text editor, you’ll miss out on the many productivity-enhancing features that IDEs and advanced text editors offer.

These features, such as code completion, integrated build tools, and debugging capabilities, can make a significant difference in your development experience.

If you prefer using a simple text editor, you may want to consider installing plugins or extensions that add support for Golang development, like syntax highlighting, error checking, and build system integration.

However, keep in mind that these setups might not provide the same level of integration and ease of use as a dedicated IDE or advanced text editor with built-in support for Golang development.

Conclusion on the best IDE for Golang

This article reviews 11 Golang IDEs, both free and premium. There is support for Golang in a variety of well-known and less well-known programming IDEs. Similar and unique sets of capabilities and functionalities are included in these IDEs. The features that are shared by all of these IDEs include auto-completion, syntax highlighting, find and replace, etc.

Some of these IDEs have built-in support for GitHub, Git, Docker, Gulp, Grunt, NPM, and other software. You can review the list to thoroughly examine things to see whether they match your requirements.

If you liked this article about the best IDE for Golang, you should check out this article about the best IDE for Linux.

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