A goroutine is a lightweight thread of execution in Go that allows functions to be executed concurrently. Goroutines are managed by the Go runtime, which multiplexes them onto operating system threads as needed. Unlike traditional threads, which are relatively expensive to create and manage, goroutines are lightweight and have a small initial footprint, making them practical for concurrent programming tasks.
Goroutines are created using the go keyword followed by a function invocation. When a function is called using go, a new goroutine is spawned to execute that function concurrently with the calling goroutine. Goroutines are scheduled cooperatively by the Go runtime, which multiplexes them onto available threads to maximize concurrency.
One of the key advantages of goroutines is their efficiency and scalability. Because goroutines are lightweight and managed by the Go runtime, it is practical to create thousands or even millions of goroutines within a single Go program without significant overhead.
Goroutines are central to Go’s concurrency model, enabling developers to write highly concurrent and scalable software systems with ease. By leveraging goroutines and channels, developers can build systems that effectively utilize parallelism and manage concurrency in a safe and efficient manner.
