**Course Title:** Mastering Go: From Basics to Advanced Development **Section Title:** Introduction to Go and Development Environment **Topic:** Writing your first Go program: Hello, World! Welcome to the world of Go programming. You have successfully set up your development environment and learned the basic syntax of Go. Now, it's time to write your first Go program. In this topic, you will learn how to create a simple "Hello, World!" program using Go. **Step 1: Create a new Go file** Open your preferred code editor or IDE and create a new file with a `.go` extension. For example, you can name your file `main.go`. Make sure to save the file in a directory that is easily accessible. **Step 2: Write the program** Copy and paste the following code into your `main.go` file: ```go package main import "fmt" func main() { fmt.Println("Hello, World!") } ``` Let's break down the code: * `package main`: This line specifies the package name, which is `main` for executable programs. * `import "fmt"`: This line imports the `fmt` package, which provides functions for formatted I/O operations. * `func main()`: This line declares the `main` function, which is the entry point for the program. * `fmt.Println("Hello, World!")`: This line uses the `Println` function from the `fmt` package to print "Hello, World!" to the console, followed by a newline character. **Step 3: Run the program** To run the program, open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you saved your `main.go` file. Then, type the following command: ```bash go run main.go ``` This will compile and run the program, printing "Hello, World!" to the console. **Understanding the Concept of Packages** In Go, a package is a collection of related functions, types, and variables. The `package main` declaration specifies that this file is part of the `main` package, which is the package for executable programs. **Best Practices** * Use meaningful package names and file names to organize your code. * Keep your code files in the same directory as the package name. * Use the `go run` command to compile and run your programs. **Additional Resources** * The official Go documentation provides an excellent introduction to Go programming: [The Go Programming Language](https://golang.org/doc/) * Learn more about packages and imports in Go: [Package documentation](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Packages) **Leave a comment or ask for help** If you have any questions or need further clarification on the concepts covered in this topic, please leave a comment below. I'll be happy to help you. **What's Next?** In the next topic, we will cover conditional statements: `if`, `else`, `switch` from the section "Control Structures and Functions". Stay tuned!