In this tutorial, we will install Go and set up our code editor.
Download
First, download Go from the official downloads page.
Make sure to download the version appropriate for your operating system.
Installation
Install Go
Open the package file you downloaded and follow the prompts to install Go.The package installs the Go distribution to /usr/local/go. The package should put the /usr/local/go/bin directory in your PATH environment variable.You may need to restart any open Terminal sessions for the change to take effect.
Verify Installation
Open a command prompt and type the following command: Confirm
Confirm that the command prints the installed version of Go.
Remove Previous Installation
Remove any previous Go installation by deleting the /usr/local/go folder (if it exists), then extract the archive you just downloaded into /usr/local, creating a fresh Go tree in /usr/local/go:rm -rf /usr/local/go && tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.18.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
You may need to run the command as root or through sudo.
Do not untar the archive into an existing /usr/local/go tree. This is known to produce broken Go installations.
Update PATH
Add /usr/local/go/bin to the PATH environment variable.You can do this by adding the following line to your $HOME/.profile or /etc/profile (for a system-wide installation):export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
Changes made to a profile file may not apply until the next time you log into your computer. To apply the changes immediately, just run the shell commands directly or execute them from the profile using a command such as source $HOME/.profile.
Verify Installation
Open a command prompt and type the following command: Confirm
Confirm that the command prints the installed version of Go.
Install Go
Open the MSI file you downloaded and follow the prompts to install Go.By default, the installer will install Go to Program Files or Program Files (x86). You can change the location as needed.After installing, you will need to close and reopen any open command prompts so that changes to the environment made by the installer are reflected at the command prompt.
Verify Installation
- In Windows, click the Start menu
- In the menu’s search box, type
cmd, then press the Enter key
- In the Command Prompt window that appears, type the following command:
Confirm
Confirm that the command prints the installed version of Go.
VS Code Setup
For this course, we recommend using Visual Studio Code as your code editor. You can download it from the official website.
Feel free to use any other code editor you prefer. The concepts taught in this course apply regardless of your editor choice.
Go Extension
Install the Go Extension
Install the Go extension from the VS Code marketplace.This extension makes it much easier to work with Go in VS Code by providing:
- IntelliSense and auto-completion
- Code navigation
- Debugging support
- Integrated testing
- And many more features
You're Ready!
That’s it for the installation and setup of Go. Let’s start the course and write our first hello world program!