Go Programming Update: From Go Tour to Go by Example
Hello again! How’s it going out there?
Here’s another update just for you.
✅ What’s Next After “A Tour of Go”?
After completing the Go Tour, I moved on to the next learning resource — Go by Example. It’s a practical, snippet-based guide that teaches Go through annotated code examples.
But before diving deep, I had to set up an IDE for actual development.
💻 Choosing an IDE: LiteIDE vs VSCode
There are many editors out there, but I narrowed it down to two major options:
- Go LiteIDE
- VS Code with Go extensions
I decided to start with Go LiteIDE to get a more native experience.
⚙️ Installing Go LiteIDE Wasn't So Easy
Installing LiteIDE wasn’t as straightforward as I expected. It took me several minutes and a few web searches to get it right.
I had to follow multiple setup steps, but eventually, it worked.
📌 Spoiler alert: I’ll be writing a separate post on how to install and set up LiteIDE for Go.
🧠 My Observations So Far
1. Go Strings Use Double Quotes Only
Unlike languages like JavaScript and Python, where both ' and " work, in Go, strings must be in double quotes (").
Single quotes (') are for runes, not strings.
2. if/else Syntax Must Be Properly Aligned
Go is strict about how you write if/else.
This will not work:
if 1 == 1 {
// do something
}
else {
// error: unexpected else
}
This is the correct way:
if 1 == 1 {
// do something
} else {
// now it's valid
}
3. Still No Section About Comments or String Concatenation
So far, I haven’t seen an example of how to:
- Add comments
- Concatenate strings
This suggests that Go expects some prior programming experience from its users. It’s not hand-holding like beginner-friendly languages.
4. Arrays vs Slices in Go
Here’s a simple example to show the difference:
array := [3]string{"j", "d", "d"} // Array
slice := []string{"j", "d", "d"} // Slice
An array has a fixed size specified inside the square brackets.
A slice doesn’t specify the size and is more flexible.
They look similar but behave differently.
🧵 Final Thoughts (For Today)
Go continues to be an outstanding language — clean, powerful, and strict.
It forces you to think like a low-level systems developer, even while giving you modern conveniences.
I’m still getting used to the syntax and structure, but every day I learn something new that surprises me.
Until the next update — keep learning, and stay curious. 👋🏽
