Introduction

This tutorial aims to guide you through the process of compiling and running Go programs. By the end of this tutorial, you'll know how to transform your Go code into an executable file and run this file on your system.

In this tutorial, you will learn:
- The basics of Go programming.
- How to compile and run Go programs.
- Best practices in Go programming.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of programming concepts and some experience in any programming language will be beneficial, but not mandatory.

Step-by-Step Guide

Installing Go

Before we start, make sure you have Go installed on your system. If not, you can download it from the official Go website. Follow the instructions according to your operating system to install Go.

Creating a Go program

Go programs are written in text files with the .go extension. You can use any text editor to write your Go code.

Here's an example of a simple Go program:

package main

import "fmt"

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

This program simply prints "Hello, world!" to the console.

Compiling Go programs

To compile your Go program, you can use the go build command followed by the name of your file:

go build hello.go

This will create an executable file with the same name as your Go file in the current directory.

Running Go programs

To run your Go program, you can simply execute the output file:

./hello

This will print "Hello, world!" to the console.

Code Examples

Example 1: Hello, World!

Here's the code snippet for a simple "Hello, World!" program:

package main

import "fmt"

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

In this program:
- package main defines the package name of the program.
- import "fmt" imports the fmt package, which contains functions for formatted I/O.
- func main() is the main function where the program starts.
- fmt.Println("Hello, world!") prints "Hello, world!" to the console.

Expected output:

Hello, world!

Summary

In this tutorial, we've learned:
- How to write a simple Go program.
- How to compile a Go program into an executable file.
- How to run a Go program.

Next steps: Now that you know how to compile and run Go programs, you can start exploring more advanced Go concepts and start writing more complex programs.

Additional resources:
- Go Documentation
- Go by Example

Practice Exercises

1. Write a Go program that prints your name to the console.
2. Write a Go program that adds two numbers and prints the result to the console.
3. Write a Go program that takes a user's input and prints it to the console.

Solutions and explanations will be provided in the next tutorial. Happy coding!