GoLand IDE Review: Go Development 

GoLang is considerably a newer programming language in the development world developed by Google. The language is becoming more popular due to its effectiveness and modern architecture. The development of Golang needs robust and modern IDEs due to its sophisticated ecosystem. One such robust IDE is GoLand built by popular software development company Jetbrains

JetBrains is best known for IntelliJ IDEA and its language-specific versions. GoLand is JetBrains’ solution for GoLang developers.  

GoLand is a cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) for the Go language. It has the ability to analyze the code and provide context-dependent automatic code completion and rapid solutions for faulty code. It also includes robust GoLang debugging tools, user-friendly GoLand code navigation, and out-of-the-box support for Git, GitHub, and Mercurial. Some of the other features include testing, version control tools, front-end development and database management.

It supports JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, SQL, Databases, Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform in addition to basic Go development tools. For adding more functionality, you can install plugins from the plugins repository. 

Features of GoLand

Coding assistance

Code assistance is one of the first few basic features of an IDE. GoLand has taken this feature one step further, GoLand not only helps in auto-completion but also include features like refactoring, inspection, quick navigation and many more. Here is a list of features that GoLand provides with basic code assistance features. 

• Code Completion: Smart code completion in GoLand provides you with a list of the most appropriate symbols for the current context. When you select a recommendation, it automatically adds related package import statements.
• Inspections & Quick-fixes: Built-in inspections in the GoLand check your code as you type. The IDE can detect and highlight a variety of issues, such as dead code, potential flaws, and spelling errors, as well as provide you with some quick fixes to enhance the overall code structure. 
• Refactorings: The available refactoring options include Rename, Inline refactoring, Extract refactoring, copy refactoring and Move refactoring. 
• Quick Navigation: The navigation of the GoLand is incredibly plain sailing. It only takes a few clicks to access files, classes, IDE action tool or tool window.  
• Code generation: GoLand helps you enhance productivity by providing different ways to create common code constructions and recurring elements. These can be file templates that are used when generating a new file, custom or predefined live templates that are applied differently depending on the circumstances, wrappers, or automatic character pairing.  
• Detecting recursive calls: If your function contains a recursive call, the IDE will recognise it and highlight it in the gutter, making your code much simpler to read and understand. 
• Finding usages: The Find Usage feature of the GoLand not only allows you to find all the instances where that particular symbol is used in the code, but it can also classify these uses by type, such as reading, writing, and so on.
• Formatter: The GoLand has a built-in formatter that provides the functionality equal to go fmt. 
• Quick Popups: Quick Pop Ups provide you with information about a symbol at carets like Quick Documentation, Quick Definition, Show usages, and Structure. Some pop ups appear when you code, providing further information about the selected proposal.

Code Editor 

Text is an inseparable part of code development. Developers deal with text and text resources on a daily basis such as the source code in the editor or debugging information. This text is formatted using colours and font styles to help you grasp it at a glance. 

GoLand provides you with a number of colour schemes to pick from, each of which defines the colours and fonts used in the IDE text. You can choose from a variety of colour schemes or create your own. It is also possible to share schemes. 

The colour scheme, by default, highlights reserved words and other symbols in your source code, such as operators, keywords, suggestions, string literals, and so on. However, it is hard to differentiate between parameters and local variables just with a look. With GoLand, you can use semantic highlighting that will let you assign different colours to different parameters and different local variables. 

Front-end and back-end development

GoLand helps in both front-end and back-end development. WebStorm’s first-class support for front-end languages and frameworks is carried over into GoLand. GoLand provides excellent coding support for JavaScript, TypeScript, Dart, React, and a variety of additional languages. The Plugins provide support for Angular and Node.js. 

You can use intelligent coding assistance while editing SQL. You can also connect to live databases, run queries, read and export data, and even manage your schemes in a visual interface–all from GoLand.

Built-in tools and integrations

Built-in tools and integrations are the essence of GoLand. It has some of the most useful built-in tools and integrations. Some of the built-in tools and integrations that comes with GoLand are: 

• Debugger: GoLand has a built-in Debugger tool that intervenes with programme execution and provides you with detailed information about the code. This makes finding and correcting faults in your programme much easier. 
• Docker: Docker allows developers to install apps within containers to test code in a production-like environment. The Docker plugin in GoLand provides Docker functionality. The plugin comes pre-installed and is activated by default. It  allows you to connect to locally running Docker machines and manage images, containers, and services. 
• Terminal:  For working with your command-line shell inside the IDE, GoLand contains an embedded terminal emulator. It allows you to run Git commands, modify file permissions, and perform other command-line functions without having to switch to a separate terminal. 
• Version control: You can explore the history of modifications, manage branches, merge conflicts, and more with the built-in Git integration. Similar functionality is accessible via plugins for other version control systems, such as Mercurial, SVN, and others. 

Pricing

GoLand Plan

Note: The yearly plan includes a perpetual fallback license. 

Conclusion 

GoLand has a robust and complex ecosystem that increases efficiency with features like smart completion and code generation. GoLand is an advanced IDE for GoLang development. It comes with some of the best features and tools that eases the stress of coding. Let us know in the comments below if you have ever used GoLand and if yes then what do you like most about it.