a) Grab the latest version of Go for macOS from the official Go downloads page: https://golang.org/dl/
b) Open the package file you downloaded and follow the prompts to install Go.
c) Run the following command in the terminal to check the installed version of Go: go version
You should see an output similar to this: go version go1.17.1 darwin/amd64
Congratulations! You have installed Go on your system.
The Go workspace will contain three directories at its root:
pkg: The directory contains Go package objects compiled from Go source code, which are then used, at link time, to create the complete Go executable binary in the bin directory.
bin: The directory that contains executables built and installed by the Go tools.
src: The directory that contains Go source files. You’ll have a subdirectory of src for each Go application.
The default directory for the Go workspace as of 1.17 is your user’s home directory with a go subdirectory, or $HOME/go
Run the following command to create the directory structure for your Go workspace:
mkdir -p $HOME/go/{bin,src}
Note: Apple switched the default shell from bash to zsh in macOS Catalina.
Users updating older versions of macOS to Catalina receive a message asking them to switch to zsh as the default shell when they open the terminal.
If you are unsure which shell you use, run echo $0 or echo ${SHELL}
Edit ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc (if you are using zsh instead of the bash shell) file to set environment variables. Commonly you need to set 3 environment variables as GOROOT, GOPATH, and PATH.
Open ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc in your preferred editor and add:
export GOROOT=/usr/local/go
export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:$GOROOT/bin:$PATH
Now that you have the root of the workspace created and your $GOPATH environment variable set, you can create your future projects with the following directory structure.
mkdir $GOPATH/src/master_go_programming
Each Go program will reside in its own directory in $GOPATH/src/master_go_programming
a) Create a directory called hello_world in $GOPATH/src/master_go_programming
And inside that directory, a file called main.go
Write this sample program in main.go:
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
fmt.Println("Hello Go World!")
}
b) Enable dependency tracking for your code.
Move to the directory with main.go and run: go mod init src/master_go_programming/hello_world
c) Run the test application
Move to the directory with main.go and run: go run main.go
You should see an output like this:
Hello Go World!
Installing Go on Mobile Devices
If you want to learn Go on your mobile phone just visit The Go Playground and write your code here: https://play.golang.org
Note: I'd strongly recommend going through this course using a laptop or a PC since we're going to work with a lot of code and keeping the pace is important.
Watching this training on a smartphone is not recommended because of readability issues.
Download and install the latest version of VSCode for macOS from https://code.visualstudio.com/Download
More details: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/mac
Open VSCode from Spotlight by typing visual studio.
Install Go Extension for VSCode
Go to File -> Preferences -> Extensions (Ctrl + Shift + x) and type go
Select go and install it.
3. After installing Go for VSCode click on Reload to Activate.
4. Important: Now exit completely from VSCode and open it up again. This step is required for it to install the extensions.
Note: Make sure you have Command Line Tools installed on your OS. If you are not sure launch the terminal (found in /Applications/Utilities/) and run: xcode-select --install
5. Go to View -> Command Palette (Command + Shift + P) and type goinstall
Then select ALL go tools and extensions and click ok.
The installation process can take a while and you know it’s ready when you see the message: All tools successfully installed. You are ready to Go :)
6. Optional: integrate the code command to the command line.
Open up the Command Palette by pressing Command + Shift + P and type shell. Select Install “code” command in PATH
7. Open your Go Workspace
Go to File -> Open Folder and select ~/go
In the src directory, there is a folder called master_go_programming that contains another folder for each Go program. Open main.go from hello_world folder you have just created
Whenever you see a popup, it's a chance to install something we may need.
Run the program by opening main.go in a terminal (In VSCode left-panel, right-click on main.go and Open in Terminal) and then type: go run main.go
Or you can run it by pressing Ctrl + F5.