Golang vs Java: Programming Languages Compared and How to Choose

There are numerous programming languages to choose from when planning a project. But selecting the right language at the very beginning is key to a successful launch or delivery. Select the wrong language and the project either won’t work or it’ll be a challenge from the very beginning.

Of course, depending on the type of project you are building (such as front end vs. back end), the proper languages available will be fewer. This can be confusing, especially when two different languages can be used for similar purposes. Such is the case with Golong vs. Java, where both languages are general purpose. Golang and Java are statically typed, multi-paradigm, and compiled, so they enjoy plenty of similarities.

That doesn’t mean, however, these two languages are interchangeable. In fact, both Java and Golang actually excel in different use cases, so they aren’t quite as interchangeable as you might think. Where Java is an outstanding choice for portable, front-end applications, Golang is superior for highly-scalable backend applications. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use Java for the back-end and Golang for the front-end. You will find, however, that forcing these languages to do something they aren’t optimized for can cause problems in the end. Let’s take a look at these two languages so you can be better prepared to choose one over the other.

What is Golang?

Golang was created by Google, back in 2007, as a replacement for the more unwieldy languages such as C++. In fact, it was a dislike for C++ that inspired the creation of Golang. The goal of Golang was to improve productivity and address many of the criticisms of other languages employed by Google, while retaining a number of the characteristics. To that end, the creators (Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson), adapted the static typing and run-time efficiency of C, and the readability and usability of Python and JavaScript. The creators wanted to build a language that would deliver high-performance networking and multiprocessing.

The initial public announcement of Golang occurred in November 2009, with the first version being released in March 2012. To this day, Golang (also called “Go”) is heavily used at Google and by companies around the globe that depend on open-source technology for the creation of powerful back-end applications that can do just about anything.

The problem Golang originally sought to overcome was to enable tooling, automate mundane tasks (such as code formatting), and remove many of the obstacles associated with working on larger code bases.

Think of Golang as following these two simple ideas:

• Keep it simple.
• Code, build, and deploy fast.

Although Golang is a newer language than Java, it was very quickly adopted by many companies and projects, so finding a Golang development company to help get your business or project off the ground shouldn’t be much of a challenge. On top of that, you’ll find plenty of supporting tools, such as libraries and frameworks, that help extend the feature set of Golang. Moreover, Golang makes it easy to build executable binaries for individual platforms. Because of that, you can use Golang to build back-end apps for Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Advantages

Given Golang was created to avoid many of the headaches associated with languages like C and C++, you can bet it has a number of important advantages, such as:

• Speed: Golang is a compiled language, so code is written in languages that processors already understand.
• Simplicity: Golang is considerably easier to learn than many other general-purpose languages.
• Scalability: Golang supports concurrency and includes Goroutines which are functions that can run both simultaneously and independently.
• Support: because Golang is open-source, there are plenty of tools that work with the language.
• Community: Golang enjoys a very large and active community that can be helpful when looking for support.
• Garbage collection: Golang offers superior garbage collection over a number of other languages, which makes it more adept at working with massive codebases.
• Speedy compilation: Golang compiles very quickly, irrespective of the amount of data involved.
• Backward compatibility: even as the language evolves, it remains backward compatible and produces executables without dependencies.

Disadvantages

Golang does have a few disadvantages (although none that would be considered deal-breakers), such as:

• Not as easy: Golang is not as simple as languages like Python.
• No generic functions: Golang does not support generic functions, which means programmers will have to create their own specific functions, which can decrease the efficiency of the development cycle.
• Less popular: Golang is not nearly as popular as Java. Although there is plenty of support for the language, it doesn’t come near that of the older languages.
• Fewer libraries and frameworks: When compared to more mature languages, Golang doesn’t have nearly the number of libraries and frameworks, meaning there will be more boilerplate coding required.

What Companies use the Golang Programming Language?

There are a number of very large and important companies using Golang. That list includes the likes of:

• Google ‍
• Uber
• Twitch
• Dailymotion
• SendGrid
• Dropbox
• SoundCloud

What Tools Integrate with Golang?

Although Golang might not have the widespread acceptance and community found with the likes of Java, it still has plenty of tools that work with the language, such as:

• GoLand: a full-featured IDE.
• Visual Studio Code: an open-source, full-featured IDE created by Microsoft.
• LiteIDE: a lightweight IDE with built-in Golang support.
• GoAudio: Native Go Audio Processing Library.
• authboss: a modular authentication system that can be easily employed for the web.
• goth: provides a simple, clean, and idiomatic way to use OAuth and OAuth2. Goth also handles multiple providers out of the box, so there’s no need for additional tooling.
• cosmos-sdk: a framework that makes it easier to build public blockchains within the Cosmos Ecosystem.
• bot: an aero-dependency Telegram Bot library that includes a few additional UI components
• 1build: a command line tool to help manage project-specific commands.
• asciigraph: a Golang package that makes it easy to build lightweight ASCII line graphs in command line apps and requires no other dependencies.
• acmd: simple, useful, and opinionated CLI package for Golang.
• aconfig: simple, useful, and opinionated configuration loader.
• CDS: Enterprise-Grade CI/CD and DevOps automation open-source platform.

What is Java?

Java has existed as a viable programming language for quite some time. Created by James Gosling (for Sun Microsystems) in May 1995, over time Java became one of the most widely-used programming languages around the world. The original purpose of Java was heralded as the “write once, run anywhere” language that could create small, reliable, portable, distributed, and real-time applications to serve just about any purpose.

One hitch that Java had to endure for some time was a lack of security. Back in the early 2000s, there was a widespread attempt to end Java because of its lack of security and its lack of speed. At the time, Java was slow, unreliable, and insecure. These days, however, Java doesn’t suffer the same reputation (although Java apps can still be considerably slower than apps that don’t depend on a virtual environment).

Eventually, Java would also become the official programming language of Android. Although not the only language used by Google’s mobile platform, it is one of the key programming languages used for Android.

The ultimate goal of Java was to enable software engineers to write a single application that could be run on any platform. To do that, Java relied heavily on sandboxing. By using this method, Java applications were deemed safe to run within enterprise environments. And because Java has become so widely used, you’ll find Java development services spread around the globe. Because of that, you shouldn’t have any problem finding outstanding Java developers for hire, or an entire team to bring into the mix, to create robust, reliable, and cross-platform applications.

Today, Java is used for mobile applications, games, cloud-native development, big data applications, artificial intelligence, and even IoT apps.

Advantages of Java

Java has plenty of advantages that make it a solid choice for a number of use cases, such as:

• Simple to learn: Java was designed, from the beginning, to be easy to write, compile, and debug.
• Object-oriented: Because of its object-oriented nature it’s possible to create modular programs and code that can be easily reused.
• Platform independent: Java programs run on any operating system.
• Stable: Both the language and the applications written with it are very stable.
• Secure: Java avoids using explicit pointers to reduce security threats.
• Garbage collection: When an object is no longer used by a program it will be automatically collected and removed.
• Multi-threading support: Java applications can run more than one thread at a time to maximize CPU utilization.
• Distributed language: Java is a distributed language and provides a mechanism for sharing data and programs with multiple computers to increase the performance of applications.
• Very large community: Java has a global community of developers, so there’s never any shortage of help to be found.

Disadvantages Java

Although Java is a very widely-used programming language, it is not without its shortcomings, such as:

• Slow speed: Because Java consumes a good deal of memory it is considerably slower than other languages.
• Old school GUIs: Java GUIs can appear outdated compared to other languages.
• No data backup: Java provides no facility for data backup.
• Not an easy read: Java code can be rather verbose and complicated to read.

What Companies use Java?

Java is used by a large number of very important companies around the world, including (but not limited to):

• Uber
• Airbnb
• Google
• Pinterest
• Netflix
• Instagram
• Spotify
• Amazon

What Tools Integrate with Java?

As you might expect, given how old Java is, there are a number of tools that easily integrate with Java to expand its functionality and/or make it even easier to work with. Those tools include the likes of:

• Jenkins: adds CI/CD integration into Java.
• Site24x7: helps monitor your Java applications.
• ManageEngine: helps to proactively monitor your Java applications as well as infrastructure performance.
• JUnit: tests Java applications.
• NetBeans: a very popular IDE that includes built-in Java support.
• Apache Maven: a platform for managing Java projects.
• Mockito: a frame that helps Java engineers write cleaner code.

Key Differences Between Golang & Java

Although both are general-purpose languages, there are some key differences between the two, such as:

• Performance: Golang outperforms Java in nearly all metrics.
• Usage: Golang applications are considerably easier to write than Java applications.
• Platforms: Java requires the JVM to run applications, whereas Golang converts code into a binary file that can run on any platform. The downfall is that binary files for each platform can take time to build.
• Popularity: Although Golang is close behind Java, Java is still one of the most popular programming languages on the planet.
• Garbage collection: Golang has superior garbage collection compared to Java, which means it’s better at managing memory leaks.

The most important thing to consider is the use case. Java is more at home with front-end applications, whereas Golang does a great job on the back-end side of things. That doesn’t mean both languages are relegated to only those applications, but for ease of use, consider how you’ll use the resultant applications before you make your choice.

What Does the Future Look Like?

Neither Golang nor Java is in any danger of losing popularity over the next few years. Because Java is used for Android development and Golang has developed widespread usage, both of these languages have very bright futures ahead of them.

Golang vs Java: Who Wins?

Given these two languages are both general usage, they can be used for similar applications. However, there is one big difference that places one over the other in the long run. Java has shifted from back-end to more front-end usage, whereas Golang has become very popular as a back-end, scalable programming language. So, if you’re looking to build highly scalable, performant back-end applications, Golang is the language you want. If, however, you want to build front-end applications (such as web apps), you’ll want to select Java as your go-to.

When to Use Golang

Golang is great for cloud-native development, such as that found in Dropbox. If you’re looking to build a platform for data/file sharing in a cloud environment, Golang is a great choice. And because you can build Golang binaries for nearly any platform, the language is very flexible.

When to Use Java

Java, on the other hand, is a great option for building front-end applications, such as mobile applications, chatbots, web applications, AI apps, and IoT support. The one thing to keep in mind is that Java does require the JVM to run. You cannot simply build executable binaries as you do with Golang and expect them to run. However, to its benefit, Java apps can run within any modern web browser, because they include a built-in JVM to run the applications.

Either way, you go, you can trust both Java and Golang to empower your teams to build useful applications that can help take your business to the next level.

FAQs

What is better than Golang?

Node.js is a language that can easily compete with Golang and has a far larger community and more supporting tools.

Is Java still worth learning?

Very much so. If you’re building mobile applications, web apps, or have to integrate with AI applications or IoT devices, Java could very well be your best bet.

Should I learn Golang or Java?

If you want to build backend applications that scale well and can run anywhere, choose Golang. If, on the other hand, you’re looking to build front-end apps that can run anywhere, and you don’t depend on serious speed, you cannot go wrong with Java.

If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out one of our other Java articles:

• What is Java?
• What Is Serverless Java, and Why Should It Be a Part of Your Company’s Development Process?
• What Skills Do Java Developers Need?
• What’s New in Java 19? Should You Make the Leap?
• 3 Reasons Why Java Is The King in Enterprise Software