Chapter 1: Environment Setup

1. Installing Go 1.24

macOS

# Using Homebrew (recommended)
brew install go

# Verify installation
go version   # go1.24.x darwin/arm64

Ubuntu / Debian

# Download and extract
wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.24.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.24.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

# Add to PATH (append to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin

# Verify
go version

Windows

# Using Scoop
scoop install go

# Or download the MSI installer from https://go.dev/dl/
# Verify
go version

2. GOPATH & Go Modules

Since Go 1.16, Go Modules is the default dependency management system. You no longer need to work inside GOPATH.

Initialize a Module

mkdir myproject && cd myproject
go mod init github.com/yourname/myproject

This creates a go.mod file:

module github.com/yourname/myproject

go 1.24

Common Module Commands

go mod tidy      # Add missing and remove unused modules
go mod download  # Download dependencies to local cache
go get pkg@v1.2  # Add or upgrade a specific dependency

3. Hello World

Create main.go:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, Go!")
    fmt.Printf("Go version: %s\n", "1.24")
}

Run directly

go run main.go
# Output: Hello, Go!

Build and Run

# Compile to binary
go build -o myapp main.go

# Run the binary
./myapp

4. VS Code Configuration

Essential Extension

Install the official Go extension by the Go team. It provides:

• gopls — Language server for autocomplete, go-to-definition, refactoring
• Delve — Debugger with breakpoints, variable inspection, step-through
• Auto-formatting on save with goimports
• Linting, testing integration, and code generation

Recommended settings.json

{
    "go.useLanguageServer": true,
    "go.lintTool": "golangci-lint",
    "go.lintOnSave": "package",
    "go.formatTool": "goimports",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "[go]": {
        "editor.defaultFormatter": "golang.go",
        "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
            "source.organizeImports": "explicit"
        }
    }
}