Java is matured and Golang is considerably new. Both of these programming languages are used to build reliable and efficient software. Java as a computer programming language has dominated the development industry for years while Golang is still growing. If you are looking for similarities and differences between these two different niches. you’ve landed at the right place.
Java has been around since 1995 and was adopted by a huge community of developers. It has become the most popular platform for Android development. Java uses Virtual methods by default. It has no primitive unsigned numeric types which make Java incompatible for low-level programming. There is plenty of documentation, tools, and libraries.
On the other hand, Go is new and modern, specifically to achieve today’s web standards. It makes use of goroutines in the place of threads. Golang offers a variety of impressive features. It is compiled to machine code and executed directly. Golang is a standard library that is limited and keeps away from bugs to offer high performance. It has built-in data types such as slices and maps, it also offers pointers to any type of values.
Now, let’s bring out the contrast between Go vs Java.

What is Golang?

Golang is a general-purpose, open source programming language. It was developed by Google’s developers Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, and Robert Griemsemer. It is multi-paradigm statically typed and complied with a programming language.
Golang has a similar syntax to C. It designed with modern multicore computers and scalability in mind. It Supports concurrency and packages for efficient management of dependencies. It is a high-performance language that supports environment patterns like any other dynamic language.

Pros and Cons of Golang Development

Here we will take a glance into major features and drawbacks of the Go Programming language.

Advantages of Go

• Golang is fast
• Statically typed and can compile to machine code
• Simplicity of code
• Concurrent programming
• Lightweight threads goroutines
• Smart standard library
• Garbage collection
• Inbuilt security
• Static analysis tools
• Cross-platform

Disadvantages of Go

• No generics
• Not a system language
• Limited library support
• Interfaces are implicit

What are the companies using Golang?

• Uber
• Tokopedia
• Heroku
• Google
• Medium
• Shopify
• Pinterest
• Slack

What is Java?

Java is a compiled computer programming language. It was officially released to the public in early 1996 and developed by Sun Microsystems (Presently owned by Oracle). Java also supports concurrency and is a class-based language specifically designed for few implementations dependencies. It is a fast and reliable computing platform. It is a widely-used programming language of all time and now used everywhere.

Pros and Cons of Java Development

Here we will take a glance into major features and drawbacks of the Java Programming language.

Advantages of Java Development

• Excellent documentation
• Widely used for web and android
• An array of third party libraries
• Automatic memory management
• Multithreading
• Flexibility
• Test-driven development
• Compiled language
• Platform independency
• Great libraries
• High-level language with simple syntax
• Excellent tooling

Disadvantages of Java Development

• Poor garbage collection
• Poor performance
• The complexity of the code
• Complicated inheritance

What are the companies using Java?

• Airbnb
• Uber
• Snapchat
• Spotify
• Netflix
• Amazon
• LinkedIn
• eBay

A Quick Comparison – Go vs Java

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Golang vs Java – The Comparison

Let’s compare these two programming languages under certain parameters to find out which language is better at what. If you’re building to build an application either with any of these languages. Take a closer took at these factors before you start your application and also consider the requisites of your project before you choose one.

Performance

Golang’s run time is a bit faster than Java. It is faster because it functions like C. It compiles to machine code and execute directly. Java has to run the code through two steps, it has to be reduced to byte code by JVM before it can be compiled into machine code.
Go has excellent memory management whereas Java’s memory is managed by the virtual machine. Go’s garbage collection is more refined, but should be optimized to prevent garbage collection pauses. Java has a traditional garbage collection but works well for memory optimization.

Speed and Readability

Go has a small library compared to Java. But it the source code works and perfectly fits for modern web development. Java has been used for all devices and there is plenty of source code for reuse. This can significantly increase the speed of application development.
Even though both Go and java are C inspired languages, there is a lot of differences between the two. Coding in Golang is more compact and it is not object-oriented. On the other side, Java is more stable and established which follows the familiar object-oriented principles.

Application

Go offers simplicity and scalability. it offers amazing multithreading capabilities and smoothly handles concurrent operations with the help of lightweight threads ‘goroutines’. It is secure and modern which makes it ideal for cutting edge technologies.
Java on the other side offers portability, it especially designed to write once and run anywhere. The JVM interacts with the hardware to make the code work in any application. Sometimes it may not be accurate to launch the same line of code on any machine which is more complex. It is a default development language for Android mobile phones.

Features

Go is a simple language, it is easy to learn and intended to have good readability. The features are limited to extend. It is supposed to avoid errors, keep away bugs and problems while you run a program. It is easy to understand the code structure which means anyone on your team can continue the work.
Java gives you multiple possibilities and developers have experimented with different features that were later added to the language. Java has all the features you will need along the way. It also supports third-party tools for the developer’s convenience.

Community

Java has been around for more than 20 years. The programming language has created an impact on its features. It has huge support from developers which has formed a great community. They are developers in and out over a course of time, but an active community to solve your problems. On the other hand, Go has an active community and it is small but growing faster. There are plenty of resources and example codes available. If you run into a problem, it is more likely you will find a solution with the help of the fellow developers who have walked the same path before, if documented.

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As you now might realize both the language Go and Java are powerful and are evolving. Being used for various application development both has it’s own plus and minus. Understanding the differences can help you make a decision on the ideal language to adopt for your project. Whether you start with Go for modern application or the well established Java, it completely depends upon your requirements.
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