| --- |
| title: Introducing the Go Playground |
| date: 2010-09-15 |
| by: |
| - Andrew Gerrand |
| tags: |
| - playground |
| summary: "Announcing the Go Playground, https://play.golang.org/." |
| --- |
| |
| |
| If you visit [golang.org](/) today you'll see our new look. |
| We have given the site a new coat of paint and reorganized its content to |
| make it easier to find. |
| These changes are also reflected in the web interface of [godoc](/cmd/godoc/), |
| the Go documentation tool. |
| But the real news is a prominent new feature: the [Go Playground](/). |
| |
| {{image "playground-intro/screenshot.png"}} |
| |
| The Playground allows anyone with a web browser to write Go code that we |
| immediately compile, |
| link, and run on our servers. |
| There are a few example programs to get you started (see the "Examples" drop-down). |
| We hope that this will give curious programmers an opportunity to try the |
| language before [installing it](/doc/install.html), |
| and experienced Go users a convenient place in which to experiment. |
| Beyond the front page, this functionality has the potential to make our |
| reference and tutorial materials more engaging. |
| We hope to extend its use in the near future. |
| |
| Of course, there are some limitations to the kinds of programs you can run in the Playground. |
| We can't simply accept arbitrary code and run it on our servers without restrictions. |
| The programs build and run in a sandbox with a reduced standard library; |
| the only communication your program has to the outside world is via standard output, |
| and there are limits to CPU and memory use. |
| As such, consider this just a taste of the wonderful world of Go; |
| to have the full experience you'll need to [download it yourself](/doc/install.html). |
| If you've been meaning to try Go but never got around to it, |
| why not visit [golang.org](/) to try it right now? |
