content/6years.article - blog - Git at Google

 Six years of Go
 10 Nov 2015

 Andrew Gerrand
 adg@golang.org

 * Six years of Go

 Six years ago today the Go language was released as an open source project.
 Since then, more than 780 contributors have made over 30,000 commits to the
 project's 22 repositories. The open source ecosystem is still growing, with
 GitHub reporting more than 90,000 Go repositories.
 And, offline, more Go events and user groups continue to pop up
 [[https://blog.golang.org/gophercon2015][around]]
 [[http://blog.golang.org/gouk15][the]]
 [[http://blog.golang.org/gopherchina][world]].

 .image 6years-gopher.png

 In August we [[https://blog.golang.org/go1.5][released Go 1.5]], the most
 significant release since Go 1. It features a completely
 [[https://golang.org/doc/go1.5#gc][redesigned garbage collector]] that makes
 the language more suitable for latency-sensitive applications, marks the
 transition from a C-based compiler tool chain to one
 [[https://golang.org/doc/go1.5#c][written entirely in Go]], and also includes
 ports to [[https://golang.org/doc/go1.5#ports][new architectures]], notably
 better support for ARM processors (the chips that power most smartphones).
 These improvements make Go better suited to a broader range of tasks, a trend
 that we hope will continue over the coming years.

 We also continued to boost developer productivity through better tools, with
 the introduction of the [[https://golang.org/cmd/trace/][execution tracer]] and the
 "[[https://golang.org/cmd/go/#hdr-Show_documentation_for_package_or_symbol][go doc]]"
 command, as well as more enhancements to our various
 [[https://talks.golang.org/2014/static-analysis.slide][static analysis tools]].
 We are also working on an
 [[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/Golang-nuts/8oCSjAiKXUQ][official Go plugin for Sublime Text]],
 with better support for other editors in the pipeline.

 Early next year we will release more improvements in Go 1.6, including HTTP/2
 support for [[https://golang.org/pkg/net/http/][net/http]] servers and clients,
 an official package vendoring approach, support for blocks in text and HTML
 templates, a memory sanitizer that checks both Go and C/C++ code, and the usual
 assortment of other improvements and fixes.

 This is sixth time we have had the pleasure of writing a birthday blog post for
 Go, and we would not be doing it if not for the wonderful and passionate people
 in our community. The Go team would like to thank everyone who has contributed
 code, written an open source library, authored a blog post, helped a new
 gopher, or just given Go a try. Without you Go would not be as complete,
 useful, or successful as it is today. Thank you, and celebrate!
	Six years of Go
	10 Nov 2015

	Andrew Gerrand
	adg@golang.org

	* Six years of Go

	Six years ago today the Go language was released as an open source project.
	Since then, more than 780 contributors have made over 30,000 commits to the
	project's 22 repositories. The open source ecosystem is still growing, with
	GitHub reporting more than 90,000 Go repositories.
	And, offline, more Go events and user groups continue to pop up
	[[https://blog.golang.org/gophercon2015][around]]
	[[http://blog.golang.org/gouk15][the]]
	[[http://blog.golang.org/gopherchina][world]].

	.image 6years-gopher.png

	In August we [[https://blog.golang.org/go1.5][released Go 1.5]], the most
	significant release since Go 1. It features a completely
	[[https://golang.org/doc/go1.5#gc][redesigned garbage collector]] that makes
	the language more suitable for latency-sensitive applications, marks the
	transition from a C-based compiler tool chain to one
	[[https://golang.org/doc/go1.5#c][written entirely in Go]], and also includes
	ports to [[https://golang.org/doc/go1.5#ports][new architectures]], notably
	better support for ARM processors (the chips that power most smartphones).
	These improvements make Go better suited to a broader range of tasks, a trend
	that we hope will continue over the coming years.

	We also continued to boost developer productivity through better tools, with
	the introduction of the [[https://golang.org/cmd/trace/][execution tracer]] and the
	"[[https://golang.org/cmd/go/#hdr-Show_documentation_for_package_or_symbol][go doc]]"
	command, as well as more enhancements to our various
	[[https://talks.golang.org/2014/static-analysis.slide][static analysis tools]].
	We are also working on an
	[[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/Golang-nuts/8oCSjAiKXUQ][official Go plugin for Sublime Text]],
	with better support for other editors in the pipeline.

	Early next year we will release more improvements in Go 1.6, including HTTP/2
	support for [[https://golang.org/pkg/net/http/][net/http]] servers and clients,
	an official package vendoring approach, support for blocks in text and HTML
	templates, a memory sanitizer that checks both Go and C/C++ code, and the usual
	assortment of other improvements and fixes.

	This is sixth time we have had the pleasure of writing a birthday blog post for
	Go, and we would not be doing it if not for the wonderful and passionate people
	in our community. The Go team would like to thank everyone who has contributed
	code, written an open source library, authored a blog post, helped a new
	gopher, or just given Go a try. Without you Go would not be as complete,
	useful, or successful as it is today. Thank you, and celebrate!