Build Your First Go Program on Windows and Master the go build Command

Introduction

Hello, I’m 星期八, a developer sharing a quick guide on writing and building your first Go program on Windows.

First Go Program

Every new language starts with a Hello World example. Open Goland, create a main.go file, and add the following code:

package main // package name, main indicates an executable program; only one main package per directory

import "fmt" // import package

func main() { // entry point
    fmt.Println("Hello world")
}

Save the file, then right‑click in the editor and choose Run to execute the program.

Using the go build Command

The program runs via run main.go, but Go is a statically compiled language, so you can produce a standalone executable.

Open a command prompt, navigate to the project directory, and run: go build This compiles main.go into an executable file (e.g., main.exe on Windows).

You can specify the output file name with the -o flag:

go build -o helloworld.exe

The resulting executable appears in the directory:

Conclusion

This article demonstrated how to write a basic Go program, run it in Goland, and compile it into a Windows executable using go build. Stay tuned for the next tutorial.