I find go's package system both too cumbersome for small/quick projects, and yet leaving me wanting in more complex scenarios. It's gotten better of the years, but I never really enjoy my encounters with go-mods
go mod init <name>
[write code]
go mod tidy
go build
True. Though installing third-party dependencies globally is considered bad practice, since it can easily break system packages.
> The Go dance is always necessary, which makes it slightly more annoying for short scripts or tests.
Well, if you just want to compile/run a single file (or a couple of files) without third-party dependencies, `go build main.go` and `go run main.go` will work just fine, too.
The "v2/ subdirectory" practice of versioning Go packages is one of the things I love the most about Go. Combined with the "packages are directories" philosophy, it makes it easy to use as many major versions of the library as you want, without any complications whatsoever.
echo 'package main
import "fmt"
func main() { fmt.Println("hello"); }
' > foo.go && go run foo.go