Golang and Javascript are the two popular programming languages for developing web applications. In this blog, we will be comparing Golang and Javascript, and discuss their advantages, disadvantages and use cases.
| Technology | Golang | Javascript |
|---|---|---|
| Developed By | Brendan Eich | |
| Release Year | 2009 | 1995 |
| Written In | C and Assembly language | C, C++ |
| Technology Type | Server-side | Full Stack |
| Learning Curve | Moderate | Steep |
| Best Suited for | Distributed Sytems, Network Systems | Full-scale applications |
| App Structure | Flexible | Steep |
| Dependency Injection | Supported | Supported |
| Performance | High | High |
| Popular Apps | Docker, Kubernetes | Gmail, Google Maps |
| Price | Free and open-source | Free and Open-Source |
Go (also known as Golang) is an open-source and statically typed programming language designed by Google. It was publicly announced in 2009 but its version 1.0 was later released in 2012. Developers use Golang to develop web applications, cloud and networking services, and other types of software.
Golang prioritizes simplicity, efficiency, and performance, and has gained popularity for its powerful concurrency model and garbage collector. The popularity of Go as a language for writing microservices and other applications can be attributed to its fast startup time, low runtime overhead, and ability to run without the need for a virtual machine (VM).
Golang was specifically created to address various issues, such as slow build time, unregulated dependencies, redundant efforts, challenges in developing automatic tools, and difficulties in cross-language development.
Golang's syntax is straightforward and easy to read, similar to C but with modern language features such as slices, maps, and interfaces. It also prioritizes code readability and maintainability, providing built-in documentation and formatting tools.
As a result, Golang is well-suited for a wide range of applications, from web servers to large-scale distributed systems. Its simplicity and ease of use have made it popular among developers who value productivity and performance and many firms look to hire Golang developers.
We generally use HTML to structure the webpage and CSS to add styling to it but that is only the static web page where users can't interact. That is where JavaScript language comes into play.
JavaScript is a lightweight programming language that is cross-platform, interpreted, and object-oriented. Developers use JavaScript to design interactive and dynamic web pages. JavaScript supports both client-side and server-side programming. JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages because it is highly versatile. It allows us to control multimedia, animate pictures, and do a variety of other things.
There are two methods for adding JavaScript code into an HTML web page: internally and externally. In the Internal JavaScript method, <script> tag is used within the body of HTML to add all the JavaScript code. External JavaScript, on the other hand, requires storing the code in a separate .js file and then retrieving it within the HTML page. While working on large projects, developers frequently use this technique to keep the code structure organized.
Simplicity: Go prioritizes readability and maintainability over being feature-rich, with only relevant features added to avoid unnecessary complexity. Go's simplicity and clarity make it a highly effective language for developing software, even in large codebases written by others.
Powerful standard library: Go has a comprehensive standard library that provides developers with a wide range of components, eliminating the need for third-party packages. Additionally, Go offers a variety of tools that streamline the development process and make it more efficient.
Garbage collection: Automatic garbage collection is a key feature of Go, enabling efficient memory management and reducing the likelihood of common memory management errors.
Built-in testing support: Go includes a simple and effective testing framework that allows developers to test their packages using the "go test" command. Developers have the ability to write unit tests alongside their application code. Additionally, Go provides support for code coverage analysis, benchmark testing, and the creation of example code to facilitate code documentation.
Concurrency support: Concurrency is essential for effectively utilizing multi-processor architecture, and it enables large applications to scale more efficiently. One of the unique advantages of Golang is its simpler and more trackable approach to concurrency compared to other programming languages. This allows app developers to process requests more quickly, free up allocated resources and network earlier, and achieve other performance benefits.
Statically typed: Go's static typing and compilation mechanism ensure accurate code compilation, while also handling type conversions and compatibility.
Speed of compilation: Go's fast compilation times make it easy for developers to iterate and test their code quickly. Compared to other popular programming languages such as Python and Java, Go features significantly faster compilation and execution speeds.
Cross-platform: Go is a cross-platform programming language that enables developers to write code that can be compiled to run on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Cross-platform: JavaScript language is supported by various operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is built into Netscape 2.0 and greater, and runs on all platforms which support Netscape.
Light-weight: Since JavaScript is not a compiled language, there is no prior byte-code conversion. However, it does adhere to a model known as Just-In-Time (JIT) Compilation. Hence, just before it executes, it is transformed to bytecode. Because of this, JS is a lightweight programming language. JavaScript can be executed on even less powerful machines.
Interpreted: As discussed above, JavaScript is not a compiled language but it's rather an interpreted language just like Python and Ruby. The source code of JavaScript is interpreted by the browser, line by line and is then executed.
Browser support: JavaScript is supported by almost every web browser including Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc.
Case sensitive: JavaScript is a case-sensitive language where all variables, function names and other identifiers must follow consistent capitalisation of letters.
Object oriented: JavaScript is a prototype based Object Oriented programming language. Data types like Arrays, Functions, etc. inherit properties of the object prototype.
Scripting language: JavaScript is a lightweight scripting language designed for client-side processing on the browser. It manages the web pages displayed to the user and its associated processing, such as cookies, sessions, and local storage, on the client's machine (browser).
Dynamically typed: Type checks (whether string or number) take place during run-time which makes JavaScript dynamically typed language. In JS, we don't need to clearly state upfront what kind of data will be kept in a variable. For instance, when we define var "num", "num" can now hold a string or an integer.
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Golang is widely recognized for its high performance, with speed and smoothness being two of its main characteristics. This can be attributed to several factors, including Golang's compiled nature and efficient memory management. Because Golang is a compiled language, it can execute code more quickly than interpreted languages like Python. Additionally, Golang's garbage collection and memory allocation are optimized to be efficient, which helps to reduce memory overhead and improve performance.
Another factor that contributes to Go's performance is its concurrency feature. Go makes it easy to write concurrent programs, allowing developers to take advantage of multi-core CPUs and handle large volumes of data with ease. With Go's concurrency primitives, developers can write code that is both efficient and easy to read, enabling smooth and predictable performance.
Overall, Go's simple syntax, robust standard library, and efficient memory management and concurrency features make it an ideal choice for building high-performance applications. Its performance, speed, and smoothness make it a popular choice among developers for building complex and scalable systems.
JavaScript is a widely used programming language for creating web applications and interactive experiences and many firms look to hire JavaScript developers. Its performance has improved considerably over the years, thanks to enhancements in web browser speed, hardware, and JavaScript language features. The faster and more efficient web browsers have allowed JavaScript to perform better, which means developers can now build more complex and interactive applications that run more smoothly and respond more quickly.
Modern JavaScript engines, like V8 and SpiderMonkey, can compile and execute code at incredibly fast speeds. This makes it easier for developers to create highly responsive applications that users can enjoy without delays or lags.
Another critical factor that affects JavaScript performance is the smoothness of the user interface. To achieve this, developers need to minimize the time taken for JavaScript to render and update the user interface, as well as optimize the use of memory and other system resources. Techniques like lazy loading, code splitting, and caching can help to reduce the amount of JavaScript that needs to be loaded and executed by the browser, ensuring a smoother and more responsive user experience.
JavaScript's performance has significantly improved and is expected to continue doing so as web technologies and hardware advance further in the future.
Golang was first introduced by Google in 2009 and has since become increasingly popular. Its popularity can be attributed to several factors, including its high performance, concurrency, and ease of use.
In the early years after its release, Golang gained a small but dedicated following, particularly among developers in the open-source community. However, it wasn't until 2016 that Golang really began to gain widespread popularity, thanks to the release of version 1.6, which included significant improvements in terms of garbage collection and support for HTTP/2.
Since then, Golang has continued to grow in popularity, with more and more developers adopting it as their language of choice for building high-performance systems. According to the TIOBE Index, which ranks programming languages based on their popularity, Golang has consistently been ranked among the top 20 languages since 2017, and it currently sits at number 11 as of April 2023.
The rise of cloud computing and the need for fast and efficient back-end development has also contributed to Golang's popularity. Its simple syntax, built-in concurrency support, and efficient memory management make it well-suited for building microservices and other cloud-based applications.
Overall, Golang's popularity is expected to continue to grow as more developers become familiar with its benefits and more organizations adopt it for their development needs.
Over 1.8 billion websites exist worldwide, and 95% of them use JavaScript. According to Github's 2020 Octoverse Report, JavaScript is by far the most popular language.
The basis for JavaScript's success is its origin tale. Its original name was Mocha, followed by LiveScript and then Javascript. The story starts in December of 1995 at the Netscape headquarters, where Brendan Eich participates in a ten-day coding sprint and comes out with a new language. Because of a license deal between Netscape and Sun (the company that owned Java), the language was renamed to Javascript and particularly "Java" script because Java was the most popular language at that time and this would help in Javascript's marketing.
While JavaScript has earned the title of "The Language of the Browser," its destiny changed in 2009 with the introduction of Node.JS, a runtime environment that allows JavaScript code to be executed outside of a web browser. Because Node.JS represents the idea of "JavaScript everywhere" paradigm, JavaScript's popularity has consequently increased.
Due to JavaScript's popularity, a number of libraries and frameworks have been developed, which have improved the effectiveness and efficiency of application development. React JS, jQuery, D3.JS, and other libraries are now used in the majority of apps all over the globe. Large apps can be built with the optimal performance of frameworks like Angular, Ember JS, and Vue JS. According to Stackoverflow, JavaScript has one of the largest communities amongst the programming languages.
Faster execution: Golang has the advantage of compiling directly to machine code, without the need for an interpreter, resulting in faster development. Programs written in Golang are highly efficient and compile quickly, making it a preferred choice among developers for faster back-end development.
Easy to learn: Golang has a simple and concise syntax, making it easy to learn and use, even for developers who are new to the language. Its code structure is similar to that of C, making it easy for programmers with experience in other languages to pick up.
Active Developer community: The strong and active Golang developer community ensures that support is readily available for any issues that may arise during the development process. Golang has a large and growing community of developers, making it easy to find support, documentation, and third-party libraries and tools.
Efficient memory management: Golang uses a garbage collector that automatically frees up memory that is no longer needed, preventing memory leaks and reducing the risk of crashes due to running out of memory. This feature makes Golang a good choice for building large-scale, high-performance systems that require efficient memory management.
Scalability: Golang is designed to scale easily, making it a good choice for building large, complex systems that need to handle a high volume of traffic.
Doesn’t support generic functions: Generic functions are functions with the same name that can handle inputs of undefined types during compile time. In the absence of support for generic functions, programmers have to create multiple versions of functions to handle different types of parameters.
Golang does not have built-in support for generics, which can make it harder to write reusable and flexible code.
Immature ecosystem: Although Golang has been around for several years, its ecosystem is still relatively young compared to other languages, resulting in a smaller community and fewer resources.
Limited support for GUI applications: Although Golang has been around for several years, its ecosystem is still relatively young compared to other languages, resulting in a smaller community and fewer resources.
Limited libraries: Compared to other programming languages like Java and Python, Golang has a limited set of libraries and tools, which can make it more challenging to find the right tool for a specific task.
Less server load: JavaScript runs on the client-side and hence, the requests sent to the server get reduced. User input is validated before the request is sent to the server and hence, it saves server traffic which reduces the load on the server.
Rich interface: JavaScript's rich interface capabilities allow for dynamic and interactive web pages, with features such as animations, user input validation, and real-time updates without requiring a page refresh. This makes for a more engaging and seamless user experience on the web.
Increased interactivity: By allowing developers to manipulate HTML and CSS elements in real-time, JS can enhance the user experience by providing increased interactivity, dynamic content updates, and seamless page transitions.
Speed: JS runs on the client side without the need for outside resources and third party apps which makes it a very fast language.
Versatility: JavaScript is a highly versatile programming language that can be used for both front-end and back-end development, as well as for building mobile and desktop applications. Its flexibility and vast ecosystem of libraries and frameworks make it a popular choice for developers across various domains.
Updates: In order to maintain JavaScript's relevance within the industry, the development team and ECMA International regularly update and build new frameworks and libraries.
Browser compatibility: JavaScript can behave differently in different browsers resulting in different outputs, which can cause compatibility issues.
Multi-threading or Multiprocessing: JS doesn't support multi-threading or multi-processing.
Debugging: Debugging JavaScript can be challenging due to its loose typing and dynamic nature, making it more prone to errors.
Client-side security: JavaScript is executed on the client-side, which means that it can be exploited by attackers to carry out malicious activities.
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Simplicity: Go prioritizes readability and maintainability over being feature-rich, with only relevant features added to avoid unnecessary complexity. Go's simplicity and clarity make it a highly effective language for developing software, even in large codebases written by others.
Powerful standard library: Go has a comprehensive standard library that provides developers with a wide range of components, eliminating the need for third-party packages. Additionally, Go offers a variety of tools that streamline the development process and make it more efficient.
Garbage collection: Automatic garbage collection is a key feature of Go, enabling efficient memory management and reducing the likelihood of common memory management errors.
Built-in testing support: Go includes a simple and effective testing framework that allows developers to test their packages using the "go test" command. Developers have the ability to write unit tests alongside their application code. Additionally, Go provides support for code coverage analysis, benchmark testing, and the creation of example code to facilitate code documentation.
Concurrency support: Concurrency is essential for effectively utilizing multi-processor architecture, and it enables large applications to scale more efficiently. One of the unique advantages of Golang is its simpler and more trackable approach to concurrency compared to other programming languages. This allows app developers to process requests more quickly, free up allocated resources and network earlier, and achieve other performance benefits.
Statically typed: Go's static typing and compilation mechanism ensure accurate code compilation, while also handling type conversions and compatibility.
Speed of compilation: Go's fast compilation times make it easy for developers to iterate and test their code quickly. Compared to other popular programming languages such as Python and Java, Go features significantly faster compilation and execution speeds.
Cross-platform: Go is a cross-platform programming language that enables developers to write code that can be compiled to run on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Cross-platform: JavaScript language is supported by various operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is built into Netscape 2.0 and greater, and runs on all platforms which support Netscape.
Light-weight: Since JavaScript is not a compiled language, there is no prior byte-code conversion. However, it does adhere to a model known as Just-In-Time (JIT) Compilation. Hence, just before it executes, it is transformed to bytecode. Because of this, JS is a lightweight programming language. JavaScript can be executed on even less powerful machines.
Interpreted: As discussed above, JavaScript is not a compiled language but it's rather an interpreted language just like Python and Ruby. The source code of JavaScript is interpreted by the browser, line by line and is then executed.
Browser support: JavaScript is supported by almost every web browser including Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc.
Case sensitive: JavaScript is a case-sensitive language where all variables, function names and other identifiers must follow consistent capitalisation of letters.
Object oriented: JavaScript is a prototype based Object Oriented programming language. Data types like Arrays, Functions, etc. inherit properties of the object prototype.
Scripting language: JavaScript is a lightweight scripting language designed for client-side processing on the browser. It manages the web pages displayed to the user and its associated processing, such as cookies, sessions, and local storage, on the client's machine (browser).
Dynamically typed: Type checks (whether string or number) take place during run-time which makes JavaScript dynamically typed language. In JS, we don't need to clearly state upfront what kind of data will be kept in a variable. For instance, when we define var "num", "num" can now hold a string or an integer.
In conclusion, both Golang and Javascript are great languages for building web applications, but they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The choice between the two immensely depends on the project's specific requirements.
If you're looking for a language that's easy to learn and has a large community, then Javascript is the better choice for you. It is widely used in web development and has many useful frameworks, both for client-side and server-side development. It is also a great language for building lightweight and interactive applications.
On the other hand, if you're looking for a language that's fast, efficient, and great for building large-scale applications that can handle a high volume of traffic, then Golang might be the better choice. It is designed to be concurrent and scalable, making it ideal for building high-performance web applications.
What to know more about other comparison blogs? Check out the following blogs.
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