Does the Golang Team or Google have any plans to develop their own Golang IDE?

I mean, who better to develop an IDE for Golang than the guys who made it?

And since Golang itself is open source, perhaps the IDE can be made open source as well so others can contribute to it?

EDIT: I decided to give VS Code a try (I hear Atom has perf issues), and I’m liking it so far! Big thanks to everyone who recommended it!

Honestly there are a ton of option for IDEs working with Golang.
Check out the discussion in this thread: What IDE you guys use?

Also JetBrains has a specifically Go themed IDE: https://www.jetbrains.com/go/

But you can really use anything you are comfortable with or like the flavor of, from Atom to vim.

Ah, yes. I have seen that topic already, thank you! :slight_smile:

I guess I should have mentioned what I had in mind for the ideal Golang IDE:

  1. Free (not required, but a HUGE plus).

  2. Has out-of-the-box Golang support.

    This is mainly so you don’t need to periodically check which plugins need updating, and if said plugins still support your version of the IDE (you should be focusing on other things, like getting things done).

    If it relies on third-party plugins, they should also support free editions of the IDE as well (e.g. the Golang plugin for Intellij IDEA that only supports the paid Ultimate edition does not count).

    Said third-party plugins should also be well-maintained to keep up with Golang’s growth and development as a language (e.g. the Golang plugin for Intellij IDEA that supports the free Community edition has stopped updating since December 24, 2016, so it also does not count).

    Said third-party plugins should also support the latest version of the IDE (e.g. said Golang plugin for Intellij IDEA Community edition only supports up to version 2017.1.5, while the current version of the IDE is 2018.1.5).

  3. Has out-of-the-box Golang Debugging support.

    The main reason is the same with number 2.

    The most recommended Golang Debugger I have seen online is Delve, which I have tried with Intellij IDEA with little success.

    While you could step-over functions just fine, stepping-in to functions would throw off the debugger completely and crash the entire application.

    NOTE: I have used the latest version of Delve some time in early-to-mid 2017. I have not checked whether the current version of Delve no longer has this issue.

  4. Can run your applications with the click of a button (not required, but a HUGE plus).

    Software has gotten so advanced that I feel we should no longer be running multiple commands via the Command Prompt when an IDE could be taking care of that for us, and more efficiently, too.

    Navigating to your project folder and running “go build/go install/godep save/etc.” sounds like a very minor thing to complain about (and it probably is), but having the IDE do that for you sounds like such a better option.

Now, I am fully aware that Golang developers only truly need a text editor and the language installed on their machine in order to write, test, and build their programs. However, I feel that we live in such an advanced digital age that this should no longer be the case.

To best illustrate this, let us take a quick look at Visual Studio 2010 Express for C#.

It’s a standalone IDE that focuses on one language and has everything you need to develop, test, and build your applications out-of-the-box.

I apologize if I sound like I’m complaining/demanding too much (I probably am :P), especially when I don’t have the necessary skill and know-how to help with such an endeavor if one ever gets started, but it just seems that things could be so much better than what we have now.

EDIT: Goland sounds like the best option we have right now (it has everything a Golang developer needs and more), but sadly it is a subscription-based IDE, meaning you will essentially never stop paying for it (free licenses also expire once you stop being eligible for them), which makes it not that ideal in my opinion.

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I feel more comfortable with a command prompt I guess, but I do use VSCode with a few Golang support plugins. My workflow uses the terminal inside my VSCode GUI, on top of that it automatically runs my build and tests when I ctl+s my files and I have the output right there in my terminal.

As far as the debugger aspect of this issue, I have yet to use one to step through a Go application. The error handling I usually have access to provides enough information for me to identify my problem. Although I am interested to get into using one, as I have done this with Java and C++ programs before.

I also like to keep my required applications to a minimum and having multiple language support in my IDE is a must for me as I do work with more than just Go.

Indeed, a multi-language IDE is a must in today’s software industry when multiple languages are necessary in a project (I didn’t include it in the list because I felt I was already listing too much :P).

I myself did not use much step-through debugging during my previous Golang project because I used debug text instead, and as you said, the error reports are usually enough to give an idea of the main issue. But such a feature can still be useful depending on the situation and the developer.

Anyway, by the looks of it a free IDE with such qualities will probably remain a pipe dream for many years to come, as current IDEs that fit the above descriptions are most definitely not free.

Hi, I’m a huge fan of MS Code, but I have to admit that Atom has the best plugin for Go.
Give it a try !

I see Atom can achieve IDE-like functionalities despite being plugin-heavy. I might check it out some time in the future.

Thanks for bringing it up! :slight_smile:

I too recommend VS Code, which is basically a refined Atom. I hope that the Golang team does not invest in developing a new IDE, but instead keeps focusing on the language and related tools. Unless Google wants to create a rival to VS Code as a separate project…

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I guess the topic is less about what editors is the best (is another neverending topic around :slight_smile: ) but if Google have plans to develop one. I guess not. Are too many editors on market and some of them already become the top of preferences. Another editor will be a spend of resources and time altough i agree wih the idea many of the prefered editors don’t fit on Go needs.

After comparing what I can find about Atom and VS Code online, I’ve decided to go with VS Code for now and I’m liking it so far! Thanks to everyone who suggested it!

Though I’m still having trouble understanding the bookmarks extension. It feels so weird that there are no built-in buttons or menus for the thing.

EDIT: I figured it out! I just assigned keyboard shortcuts for the Bookmarks extension and now it works like a charm!

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