Building Go Applications | Building And Deployment

Introduction

Go, also known as Golang, is an open-source programming language designed for simplicity, efficiency, and reliability. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of building a Go application from start to finish. We will cover everything from setting up your environment to creating, building, and deploying your Go application.

1. Setting Up Your Environment

Before we start building our Go application, we need to set up our development environment. Follow these steps to install Go:

1. Download the Go installer from the official Go website.

2. Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

3. Verify the installation by opening a terminal and running the following command:

go version

go version go1.16.5 linux/amd64

2. Creating Your First Go Application

Now that we have Go installed, let's create a simple Go application. Follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal and create a new directory for your project:

mkdir myapp

2. Navigate to the new directory:

cd myapp

3. Initialize a new Go module:

go mod init myapp

4. Create a new file named main.go and open it in your favorite text editor:

touch main.go

5. Add the following code to main.go:

                        package main

                        import "fmt"

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

3. Building Your Go Application

Building a Go application is straightforward. Follow these steps to build your application:

1. Open a terminal and navigate to your project directory:

cd myapp

2. Run the following command to build your application:

go build

3. After the build process completes, you will see an executable file named myapp in your project directory. Run the executable to see the output:

./myapp

Hello, World!

4. Adding Functionality

Let's add some functionality to our Go application. We will modify main.go to include a simple function that adds two numbers:

                    package main

                    import "fmt"

                    func add(a int, b int) int {
                        return a + b
                    }

                    func main() {
                        result := add(3, 4)
                        fmt.Println("The result is:", result)
                    }

Save the file and rebuild the application:

go build

Run the executable again to see the new output:

./myapp

The result is: 7

5. Deploying Your Go Application

Deploying a Go application can be done in various ways. One common method is to deploy it as a containerized application using Docker. Follow these steps:

1. Create a file named Dockerfile in your project directory and add the following content:

                        # Start with a base image containing Go runtime
                        FROM golang:1.16

                        # Set the Current Working Directory inside the container
                        WORKDIR /app

                        # Copy the source code into the container
                        COPY . .

                        # Build the Go application
                        RUN go build -o myapp

                        # Command to run the executable
                        CMD ["./myapp"]

2. Build the Docker image:

docker build -t myapp:latest .

3. Run the Docker container:

docker run --rm myapp:latest

The result is: 7

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have covered the basics of building a Go application from start to finish. We started with setting up the development environment, creating a simple Go application, adding functionality, and finally deploying it using Docker. With these skills, you can now start building and deploying your own Go applications.