The Go Toolchain

Go is a compiled language - the source code you write must be converted to a binary format understandable to a computer before it is executed. The compiler is accessed through the go command. In addition, the go command provides several other tools

The sections below describe several of the more popular go commands, but do not cover the complete set. For full information run:

$ go help

go build

Build compiles the packages named by the import paths, along with their dependencies, but it does not install the results.

If the arguments are a list of .go files, build treats them as a list of source files specifying a single package.

When the command line specifies a single main package, build writes the resulting executable to output. Otherwise build compiles the packages but discards the results, serving only as a check that the packages can be built.

$ go build somefile.go  # Build just this one file
$ go build              # Build package in current folder

godoc.org

The website godoc.org extracts and displays automatic documentation, much like the godoc command, for any open source Go module specified by its import URL.

See GoDoc.org for more detail.