Golang vs Java: Which Language Should You Use for Your Next Project?

Golang (or “Go”) and Java are both highly versatile and in-demand programming languages, and it’s advisable to learn them both. However, each has its advantages and tradeoffs — and choosing which is best for your project is essential.

In this article, we compare Go and Java and present their pros and cons, but first, let’s focus on what they are. Once you learn more about each, you'll have a better understanding of Go versus Java so you can choose the right programming language for your project.

What is Golang?

Golang (now known as "Go") is a statically typed programming language created by Google. Statically typed means any variable created requires a “type” associated with it. For example, you must tell the computer if a variable is a number or a string of letters.

Go was used at Google internally as early as 2009, and was released as Google's open source programming language in 2012 — so it's relatively new. It was created based on the C programming language, with the express purpose of programming scalable servers and applications with massive amounts of throughput. In addition to scalability, Go emphasizes ease of use and low memory overhead.

What is Java?

Java, a statically typed programming language introduced by Sun Microsystems in 1995, was crafted with the guiding principle of "write once, run anywhere." Java code is interpreted by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), enabling seamless interaction across various computer architectures. Java is considered a versatile programming language because its design doesn't confine it to a specific predefined purpose. Java was created to be used in a wide swath of areas. 

Now that we have an understanding of both Go and Java, let’s focus on how they perform in specific situations, starting with scalability.

Go vs Java: Scalability

As stated above, Go was created with scalability in mind. Go has its own excellent thread management system called Goroutines. This gives programmers the ability to easily create multithreaded routines that will increase the speed and scalability of their applications. 

Java scales excellent as well. Its threading system is similar to Go’s; however, it is less robust. Unlike Go, Java is an Object-Oriented programming language that lends itself well to complex applications. (Anything that needs to be scalable will generally be complex as well.)

With all that in mind, if your organization needs to create an application that will be streamed by thousands of users, then Go would be a great choice. For example, a music streaming service, a search engine, or a gaming server would be excellent for Go. 

On the other hand, Java may be your best bet if you need a large enterprise solution that requires a lot of data processing. For example, if you need to create an application that interacts with a CRM, Java would be perfect.

Go vs. Java: Features

Since Java has been around for 25 years (and still going strong), you can bet it has many features that a newer programming language may not have. Java is often considered more difficult to learn. But that's not always the case, especially when you complete an effective Java training program. 

Here are the four key features of each language.

A Look Inside Java’s Features

Object-Oriented: Everything in Java is an object. This makes coding Java modules reusable and easy to import into different applications.

Platform Agnostic: Java is an interpreted language. It is reduced to Bytecode and translated by the JVM into machine code. This makes it very easy to execute Java code, regardless of computer architecture (i.e., Mac, Windows, Linux).

Error Management: Java was built with the possibility of failure in mind, so it provides built-in error management and exception-handling capabilities. This makes it simple to write code that can gracefully recover from system crashes.

Security: When Java was created, system security was baked into the design philosophy. For example, Java has ClassLoader. This feature checks a class’s digital signature (among other things) to ensure it hasn’t been tampered with. Additionally, Java includes built-in encryption to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks and packet sniffing.

A Look Inside Golang’s Features

• Concurrency: Hands down, the best feature of Go is its advanced scalability and concurrency features. Go is designed to be lightweight and to take advantage of Goroutines and channels to create sleek, responsive streaming services and web applications. 

• Simple Syntax: Go is surprisingly simple to read, reducing developer ramp-up time and the time required to maintain the software.

• Cross-Platform Support: Go can be used anywhere it needs to be, whether it is Linux, Mac, or Windows. This is as opposed to other languages like Swift, PowerShell, or Visual-Basic, which are pretty much restricted to their respective architecture.

• Lightweight: Go was created to be fast, responsive, and scalable. One great feature of Go is static linking, which means every dependency required by an application can be added to one single executable file. That greatly reduces overhead and load time.

Go vs. Java: Community Support

Considering Java is 25 years old, it is hard to find a seasoned developer who hasn’t had at least some Java experience. With that being said, virtually any question you have about Java will probably have an answer.

Since Go is newer, it may be more difficult to find the solution to a problem you may have. But honestly, it won’t be that much more difficult — both languages have a very active community with enthusiastic users. 

Overall, Java is more established than Go, so you may find it easier to find solutions and tutorials, but Go’s support is also impressive. 

Go vs. Java: Usage

There is a fair amount of overlap between the two programming languages regarding what you can actually create. However, each one has certain specialties that make it better than the other. Let’s look at sample applications and which language is ideal for each.

What Are the Ideal Use Cases for Java?

• CRM Integration: If you need to integrate with a Customer Relationship Model, Java is recommended over Go. Let’s say you need to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, or some other CRM. Java has many libraries and existing tools to facilitate the communication between your CRM and application. The rule of thumb here is if it is an enterprise application, think Java.

• Scientific Modeling: Java has a huge footprint in the scientific modeling community. Java’s memory management, security, and numerous libraries make it perfect for large-scale data analysis. CellDesigner, GeoGebra, and NetLogo are just a few science applications written in Java.

• Android Application: Java’s existing libraries and processes make it the most commonly used Android language. In fact, Google recommends all Android apps be written in Kotlin, C++, or Java. Java’s built-in security and object-oriented modularization make it the perfect fit for mobile development. 

What Are the Ideal Use Cases for Golang?

• Web Servers: One of the great features of Go is that it has a built-in library solely for HTTP interactions. Combine this with its hallmark concurrency and lightweight framework, and you have the perfect language for writing a backend server.

• ETL (Extract, Transform, Load): An ETL application takes data from several existing sources and loads them into a central data lake for analysis. This operation could potentially handle billions of records. Using channels and Goroutines make this the perfect project to tackle using Go.

• System Utilities: Go is a great language for low-level manipulation. For example, if your organization needs to write a command-line interface to analyze network traffic, build code scaffolding, or more, Go is the way to go. There is already plenty of precedent for doing so, such as GoTTY, ngRok, and Caddy—all three are CLI’s written Go.

Choosing the Right Programming Language for Your Needs

We’ve covered a lot of ground here, but let’s review some final thoughts before choosing a language.

First, find out how well-versed your dev team is in either language. If your team has deep knowledge in Java, but knows nothing in Go, that should weigh considerably in your final decision. Remember, though, that most of this stuff can be taught by experienced professionals, so don’t be afraid to broaden your horizons!

Second, think about scalability. If thousands, or even millions, of users, are going to be hitting this application, then Go may be your best bet. If you’re still getting your feet wet with Go, then it may be a good idea to learn its ins and outs before digging into the project.

Third, think about how complex the project will be. Does it need to do many things or just one thing really well? Also, think about how the user will interact with the application. Will there be a UI or a CLI? Remember that Java has tons of libraries to perform diverse operations; while Go is straightforward to use and is excellent at scaling, it’s limited in other areas. 

Final Thoughts on Go vs. Java

Overall, we would recommend Java for most projects. Java has considerable versatility, even though it is a slightly more difficult language to learn. However, Go is the right decision for anything requiring high scalability or low-level operations.

If you are ready to get started with either or both, these programming and development trainings from CBT Nuggets will help you learn at your own pace.