What’s new in Go 1.16

Go 1.16, the latest major release of the Go programming language, introduces a range of improvements and new features, including the default activation of module-aware mode, native support for Apple silicon, and the ability to natively embed static files within a binary using the new embed package. This version also sees the deprecation of the io/ioutil package, with its functions relocated to other packages like io and os, while the new io/fs package and testing/testfs packages simplify filesystem abstraction in tests. Additionally, package authors can now use the retract directive to mark old versions as insecure or broken, and the go install command has been updated to be module-aware, with the go get command deprecated for building and installing packages. The release continues Go's tradition of enhancing portability and performance across different operating systems, highlighted by its swift adaptation to Apple's new ARM architecture, and it also introduces small but notable changes such as improved error handling in goroutines during testing.