About this Book

Go is an open source programming language that makes it easy to build simple, reliable, and efficient software. Although it borrows ideas from existing languages, it has a unique and simple nature that makes Go programs different in character from programs written in other languages. It balances the capabilities of a low-level systems language with some high-level features you see in modern languages today. This creates a programming environment that allows you to be incredibly productive, performant, and fully in control; in Go, you can write less code and do so much more.

Who should read this book?

This book was written for an intermediate-level developer who has some experience with other programming languages and wants to learn Go. Our goal in writing this book is to provide you an intensive, comprehensive, and idiomatic view of the language. We focus on both the specification and implementation of the language, including topics that range from language syntax, Go’s type system, concurrency, channels, testing, and more. We believe this book is perfect for anyone who wants a jump-start in learning Go as well as for those who want a more thorough understanding of the language and its internals.

Roadmap

The book consists of nine chapters, briefly described here:

• Chapter 1 is a quick introduction to what the language is, why it was created, and the problems it solves. It also briefly introduces some of Go’s core concepts such as concurrency.
• Chapter 2 walks you through a complete Go program, teaching you all that Go has to offer as a language along the way.
• Chapter 3 introduces the concept of packaging and how to best set up your Go workspace and development environment. It also shows how to use the Go tooling, including fetching and building your code.
• Chapter 4 provides a detailed view of Go’s built-in data types: arrays, slices, and maps. It explains the implementation and mechanics behind these data structures.
• Chapter 5 is a detailed view of Go’s type system, from struct types to named types to interfaces and type embedding. It also covers how all these things come together to allow you to structure and write complex software in a simpler way.
• Chapter 6 dives deeply into how the Go scheduler, concurrency, and channels work. It teaches the mechanics behind this aspect of the language.
• Chapter 7 takes what you learn from chapter 6 and shows more practical code around concurrency patterns. You will learn how to implement goroutine pools to manage work and how to pool reusable resources to be shared.
• Chapter 8 explores the standard library and goes deep into three packages: log, json, and io. The chapter focuses on some of the intricacies of these three packages.
• Chapter 9 closes the book by showing how to use the testing and benchmarking framework. You will learn how to write unit and table tests and benchmarks, and how to add examples to your documentation and use the examples as tests.

About the code

All source code in the book is presented in a mono-spaced typeface like this, which sets it off from the surrounding text. In many listings, the code is annotated to point out key concepts, and numbered bullets are sometimes used in the text to provide additional information about the code.

Source code for the examples in the book is available for download from the publisher’s website at www.manning.com/books/go-in-action and from GitHub at https://github.com/goinaction/code.

Author Online

Purchase of Go in Action includes free access to a private web forum run by Manning Publications where you can make comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the authors and from other users. To access the forum and subscribe to it, point your web browser to www.manning.com/books/go-in-action. This page provides information on how to get on the forum once you’re registered, what kind of help is available, and the rules of conduct on the forum.

Manning’s commitment to our readers is to provide a venue where a meaningful dialog between individual readers and between readers and the authors can take place. It is not a commitment to any specific amount of participation on the part of the authors, whose contributions to the AO remain voluntary (and unpaid). We suggest you ask the authors challenging questions, lest their interest stray.

The Author Online forum and the archives of previous discussions will be accessible from the publisher’s website as long as the book is in print.

About the authors

WILLIAM KENNEDY (@goinggodotnet) is a managing partner at Ardan Studio in Miami, Florida, a mobile, web, and systems development company. He is also the author of the blog GoingGo.Net, and the organizer for the Go meetup in Miami. Bill is focused on Go education through his training company, Ardan Labs. He can often be found talking at conferences and giving workshops both locally and over hangouts. He always finds time to work with individuals and groups who want to take their Go knowledge, blogging, and coding skills to the next level.

BRIAN KETELSEN (@bketelsen) is the CIO and cofounder of XOR Data Exchange. Brian is a co-organizer of GopherCon, the annual Go conference, and the founder of GopherAcademy—a community-focused organization created for the promotion of the Go language and the education of Go developers. He’s been using Go since 2010.

ERIK ST. MARTIN (@erikstmartin) is the Director of Software Development at XOR Data Exchange, a big data and analytics company located in Austin, Texas, but resides in Tampa, Florida. Erik is a long-time contributor to open source and its communities. He’s an organizer for GopherCon, an annual Go conference, and the organizer of the Go Tampa meetup group. He’s very passionate about Go and the community and eager to find new ways to foster its growth.