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Verifying the Installation

To ensure that your Golang environment is set up correctly, it's important to verify the installation. This step will ensure that you have installed everything correctly and you're ready to start coding. Let's take it step by step!

Checking if Go is Installed​

To verify the installation, you should first check if Go is installed on your system. You can do this by opening your terminal or command prompt and typing the following command:

go version

After hitting enter, you should see an output that looks something like this:

go version go1.17.1 linux/amd64

The exact version might differ based on when you installed Go, but as long as you see a version number, it means Go is installed on your system.

Understanding the Output​

The output of go version gives you some important information:

  • go version: This is the version of Go that you have installed on your system. It's important to ensure that you have the latest version installed for the best performance and security.
  • linux/amd64: This part of the output tells you the operating system and architecture that Go is installed on. In this case, it's installed on a Linux system with an AMD64 architecture.

Running a Simple Go Program​

The final step in verifying your Go installation is to run a simple Go program. This will ensure that not only is Go installed, but it's also set up correctly and ready to run programs.

Here's a simple Go program that you can use for this purpose:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, world!")
}

You can create a new file called hello.go, paste the above code into it, and then run it using the go run command:

go run hello.go

If everything is set up correctly, you should see the following output:

Hello, world!

This means that Go is not only installed, but it's also able to execute programs correctly.

Wrapping Up​

By now, you should have verified that Go is installed and set up correctly on your system. You've checked the version, understood the output, and run a simple Go program. Now, you're ready to start your journey with Go programming!

Remember, if you encounter any issues along the way, don't hesitate to consult the official Go documentation. It's a valuable resource for any Go programmer, whether you're just starting out or you're an experienced developer.

In the next step of your journey, you'll start learning about Go's syntax and how to write more complex programs. But for now, give yourself a pat on the back for successfully installing and verifying Go on your system!