Go vs Java & Python

Go vs. Java

Concurrency

Go is an open source programming language developed by Google. It is generally known for its native concurrency. Now a days various big projects such as MongoDB, Netflix, Uber, Facebook etc are using Go language. Even some DevOps tools like kubernetes and Docker which deals in containerization (provides an isolated environment for application development) are written in Go, which makes them faster and precise. Among them most of the projects are for handling high volumes of requests.

Functions

When compared together, both of the languages Java and Go have functions concept but still are slightly different. If someone is referring to a function in Java, they are actually referring to the specific body of that particular code, which includes name, return type and the parameters rather than just the function itself. Similarly, if someone refers to a function within the class, it is actually referred to the function which is a member or even a method sometimes.

Go allows multiple return values from methods and functions and it does not allow implicit type casting. In Go language if someone tries to force these things; they will eventually end up with a compiler error.

Memory uses

The memory use in both the languages is pretty much the same. Golang has a feature of automatic garbage collection that simply skips the task of deletion and correction of files.  The developers of the Go language intended to pry open the efficiency in garbage collection.

Creation of threads

Go routines is used by Golang to perform parallel executions of tasks, but Java uses OS threads. Go language and Java both are very similar when it comes to parallelization because both languages perform their units of task on OS threads. However there is a big difference between their concurrency model and thread handling.

Handling of threads

Java objects are shared between units of work. When a unit of work accesses this piece of shared data, it must first obtain a lock on it using the entity’s intrinsic lock (or monitor lock.)

Go vs. Python

Go is statically typed, with some warnings. The Go compiler will ensure that data is of an expected type. This property generally allows for multiple modules to communicate with each other (via channels, function calls, etc.) more reliably.

Concurrency and Performance

As most of the languages use concurrency but Go uses it in more smarter and efficient ways. That is why Go concurrency model is able to give faster performance. For memory saving and utilization of resources like CPU Go uses Goroutines. This results in faster performance when compared to Python, and help us reducing resources and costs.

Simplicity

 Python is famous for the simplicity but there are downsides as well. Many developers have noticed Python is great for simple and basic programming tasks, but when it comes to build more complex systems it gets complicated. There can also be frustrating coding errors.

Python is very easy and fun to use but sometimes one can get unexpected happenings. You try to use a variable as an integer but seldom it turns out as a string and you have to deal with such minor things and fix it out. But in Go compiler will make your life easy and eliminate such problems/errors when it will compile the code.

Native support of library

A variety of different tools are supported by its native library. So most of the time there is no need to use it with the help of any third-party libraries. But you are free to download lots of tools and framework as Go has a very large community around it. Go language includes most of the necessary tools built in its core. So there is no need to look for third party resources.

Comparison of syntax among Go, Java and Python

1. Go and Java syntax is C-based with curly braces. Python’s syntax is based on whitespace indentation
2. In Go and Python you can return multiple values. But in Java you have to limit them into a class.
3. In Go and Python functions are first class citizens. But in Java you have to limit the function in a class.
4. Java and Go are static typed. Python is dynamic typed. But a Java program can be larger as compared to that of Python program.
5. Java has primitives and objects which usually passed by value and reference respectively. Python includes only objects. Go is similar to C so objects can be passed as value or reference or both.
6. Java has generics. Since Python is dynamically typed it doesn’t need generics. Go doesn’t support generics and templates. Go isn’t like OOP language.
7. Go has interfaces but not inheritances. Java has inheritances and Python has multiple inheritance and metaclasses.

Library support

 All these languages provide standard library support which is enough to do easy as well as complex projects. As Go is newer among all these three, so it might be a little behind in the context of library. But Go is improving its library day by day. In every new release, you can find some improvisation of library. Python and Java has a very widely supported library but Java has even deep library support.

Tools

All three languages have great tooling support.

1. Python and Java don’t have any single best package manager. But Go has Go get package manager.
2. All three languages can be interfaced with C if you want to.