Learning Golang: Compiling and running Go programs

This is part 2 of my journey learning Golang.

Compiling Go programs

An individual Go source file can be compiled with the go build command:

1go build {filename}.go

That will produce an executable binary file if the source’s package is main (see Part 3 for more on packages).

The resulting binary can be executed with this command:

1./{filename}

Example:

1$ go build main.go
2$ ./main
3Hello World

Running from source

The go run command combines the two previous steps: it builds a binary from a source file and executes it:

1go run {filename}.go

That’s super handy for an interactive workflow during development.

Example:

1$ go run main.go
2Hello World

go run does not create a binary in the current folder.

Takeaways

• go build will compile and produce a binary.
• go run will compile and run without producing a binary.

This looks like a pretty handy workflow to me. What do you think? How does that compare to your experience with other languages? If you’re a seasoned Go programmer, what would you add to these notes?