Go

The open source Go programming language was created by Google in 2009 to get the speed of compiled C code while also having quality-of-life features of memory protection, garbage collection, and multiprocessing. The language is sometimes referred to as golang to avoid confusion with the English word “go.” [6]

Tutorials

Installation

Download Go, extract it, add the new Go binary $PATH, and load it. [11]

  • Linux

    $ export GO_VERSION="1.23.1"
$ export GO_OS="linux"
$ export GO_ARCH="amd64"

    $ wget https://dl.google.com/go/go${GO_VERSION}.${GO_OS}-${GO_ARCH}.tar.gz
$ tar -C /usr/local -x -z -f go${GO_VERSION}.${GO_OS}-${GO_ARCH}.tar.gz
$ echo "PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin" >> ~/.profile
$ . ~/.profile

  • macOS

$ brew install go

Release Cycle

A new major 1.Y release of Go comes out every 6 months. Every release gets updates for 1 year before being marked as end-of-life. The first 6 months, Go gets fixes for bugs and security issues. The second/last 6 months only get security fixes. [12] All Go 1 source code using the standard library is guaranteed to be backwards compatible for all 1.Y releases. [13]

Documentation

The official documentation website for Go is golang.org/doc/. The unofficial website godoc.org provides documentation for many third-party libraries.

The godoc tool can be used to run the official documentation at locally at 127.0.0.1:6060.

$ go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/godoc
$ godoc

Go has a built in go doc command to show documentation from a package or a function within it.

$ go doc <PACKAGE>.<SYMBOL>.<FUNCTION>

[16]

Style Guide

The gofmt command will automatically format a Go source code file into the standard format. The most common styling mistakes are documented in the Go Code Review Comments page on the Go wiki.

$ gofmt <FILE>.go # prints to stdout
$ gofmt -d <FILE>.go # diff the original file and gofmt formatted output
$ gofmt -w <FILE>.go # apply the format and overwrite the file

Lint

Go provides a basic lint tool with golint. It will look for common issues and print out warnings for any that it finds.

golangci-lint

A community project called golangci-lint adds even more lint checks and functionality compared to golint.

Install [33]:

$ VER="v1.39.0"
$ curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/${VER}/install.sh | sh -s -- -b ~/.local/bin ${VER}

View the list of available linters and which ones are currently enabled or disabled. By default, over 50 linters are available. [35]

$ golangci-lint linters

False-positives can be ignored by placing a //nolint comment above the code causing a lint warning. For warnings about the end of a function block { }, add the comment after the block because adding it before creates a new warning (the last line in a block should not be a comment or whitespace). [34]

Comments

At least the main package needs to have a comment at the beginning to describe what it is and how it can be used. Package comments should start with // Package <PACKAGE>. Comments for other parts of the code such as functions and variables should start with // <FUNCTION_NAME>. [17]

Variables

  • Variables should be named using English words.

  • Use camelCase and avoid underscores.

    var foodRating int = 9

  • Constants should be all uppercase characters and use underscores.

    const MESSAGE_OF_THE_DAY string = "Unauthorized access is not allowed!"

  • Acronyms should be uppercase.

    var HTTPToken string = "123"

  • Group related variables together.

    var (
    foo := "hello"
    bar := "world"
)

  • One-off temporary variables should have a very simple name of around 3 characters or less.

    for i, n := range car_names {

[26]

Data Types

Overview

  • const = Constant. This declares that a variable value will never change. The variable can be of any data type.

  • bool = Boolean. Valid values: true or false.

  • complex64, complex128 = Complex. A float that supports imaginary numbers.

  • float32, float64 = Float. Large decimal numbers.

  • int, int8 (or byte), int16, int32 (or rune), int64 = Integer. By default, int will be 32-bit or 64-bit based on the operating system architecture.

  • nil = An empty/null variable.

  • string = String. Alphanumeric UTF-8 values. Strings that are written out using double quotes (") only. Single quotes are reserved for defining a rune (single character) data type.

  • uint, uint8, uint16, uint32, uint64, uintptr = Unsigned integer that only supports positive whole numbers.

  • iota = An integer that starts at zero. In a variable block declaration, each new iota variable adds one to the count. This is commonly used as a value for many variables in a const block. [32]

  • _ = A null character. Anything assigned to this will be discarded. This is useful for loops because Go does not support creating variables that are not used.

Example iota usage:

package main

import "fmt"

const (
    foo = iota
    bar
)

const (
    _ = iota + 10
    oof
    rab
)

func main() {
    fmt.Printf("%v\n", foo)
    fmt.Printf("%v\n", bar)
    fmt.Printf("%v\n", oof)
    fmt.Printf("%v\n", rab)
}

0
1
11
12

Variable Declaration

Go will, by default, guess what data type the variable should be based on the value that is assigned to it.

var hello = "Hello world"

hello := "Hello world"

Variable data types can be explicitly defined by placing the type after the variable name.

var hello string = "Hello world"

Multiple empty variables can also be initialized at once.

var height, width, length int8

[1][2]

Structs

Structs expose a way handle to handle related data that have different data types.

Syntax:

type <STRUCT_NAME> struct {
    <VAR1_NAME> <VAR1_TYPE>
    <VAR2_NAME> <VAR2_TYPE>
}

func main() {
    var <VAR0_NAME> <STRUCT_NAME> = <STRUCT_NAME>{<VAR1_VALUE>, <VAR2_VALUE>}
    <STRUCT_VAR>.<VAR1_NAME> = <NEW_VALUE>
}

Example:

package main

import "fmt"

type Car struct {
    name string
    mpg int
}

func main() {
    // truck short declaration.
    truck := Car{"semitruck", 5}
    // truck long declaration.
    //var truck Car = Car{"semitruck", 5}
    fmt.Printf("The %v gets %v miles per gallon.\n", truck.name, truck.mpg)
    truck.mpg = 7
    fmt.Println("The new model coming out will get", truck.mpg, "miles per gallon.")
}

The semitruck gets 5 miles per gallon.
The new model coming out will get 7 miles per gallon.

[18]

Arrays, Slices, and Maps

Arrays have an index, store one data type, and have a fixed length. If the index will be dynamically changed then it is known as a slice. The declaration of a slice is similar to an array except the length is not specified.

Slices support using append() to add new elements to it. The len() function can be used to determine how many elements are in an array, slice, or map. [20]

Syntax:

var <ARRAY_NAME> [<LENGTH>]<DATA_TYPE> = [<LENGTH>]<DATA_TYPE>{<VALUE_1>, <VALUE_2>}
var <SLICE_NAME> []<DATA_TYPE> = []<DATA_TYPE>{<VALUE1>, <VALUE2>}
append(<SLICE_NAME>, <VALUE1>, <VALUE2>)
len(<ARRAY_SLICE_OR_MAP>)

Define an array and automatically determine the number of elements in it by using [...]:

var <ARRAY_NAME> [...]<DATA_TYPE> = [...]<DATA_TYPE>{<VALUE_1>, <VALUE_2>}

Valid ways to define a slice:

// Has a default value of "nil".
var <SLICE_NAME> []<DATA_TYPE>
// These two are empty.
<SLICE_NAME> := []<DATA_TYPE>{}
<SLICE_NAME> := make([]<DATA_TYPE>, 0)

Example usage of a slice:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
     // student_names is created as a slice.
     var student_names []string = []string{"bob", "joe"}

     fmt.Printf("Student names loops.\nLoop #1:\n")
     for index := 0; index < len(student_names); index++ {
             fmt.Println(index, student_names[index])
     }

     student_names[0] = "rob"
     fmt.Println("Loop #2:")
     for index, name := range student_names {
             fmt.Println(index, name)
     }

     student_names = append(student_names, "sal")
     fmt.Println("Loop #3:")
     // If the index is not used, it must be assigned to the a null character.
     // Go does not allow creating variables that will not be used.
     for _, name := range student_names {
             fmt.Println("*", name)
     }

     fmt.Println("Length of student_names array:", len(student_names))

Student names loops.
Loop #1:
0 bob
1 joe
Loop #2:
0 rob
1 joe
Loop #3:
* rob
* joe
* sal
Length of student_names array: 3

Maps/hashes/dictionaries are unordered key-value stores that can mix and match different data types and have a dynamic length. A key and it’s related value can be removed from a map using the delete() function. Maps do not support append(). [19]

Syntax:

// Maps have to be initialized first so create an empty map like any other variable will not work.
// The default value of it will be 'nil'.
//var <MAP1_NAME> map[<KEY_DATA_TYPE>]<VALUE_DATA_TYPE>
// Use 'make()' instead.
var <MAP1_NAME> = make(map[<KEY_DATA_TYPE>]<VALUE_DATA_TYPE>)
var <MAP2_NAME> = map[<KEY_DATA_TYPE>]<VALUE_DATA_TYPE>{
    <KEY1>: <VALUE1>,
    <KEY2>: <VALUE2>,
}
// Add a new key-pair to the map.
<MAP1_NAME>[<KEY3>] = <VALUE3>
// Delete an a key-pair from the map.
delete(<MAP_NAME>, <KEY>)

Example:

var student_grades map[string]rune = map[string]rune{"joe": 'B', "sal": 'C'}
student_grades["rob"] = 'A'
delete(student_grades, "joe")
fmt.Println("student_grades map:", student_grades)
for name, grade := range student_grades {
    fmt.Println(name, "has earned a grade of", string(grade), "in the class.")
}

student_grades map: map[rob: 65 sal:67]
sal has earned a grade of C in the class.
rob has earned a grade of A in the class.

Check if an index exists in an array or map. The second return variable will be a true boolean if it exists.

name, exists = <MAP_NAME>[<INDEX>]

[21]

Pointers

Go supports memory pointers for any data type.

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    x := 7
    // Create a pointer variable from an existing variable.
    // `y := &x` is also valid syntax.
    var y *int := &x
    fmt.Println("Value of x:", x)
    fmt.Println("Pointer location of x:", &x)
    fmt.Println("Deference pointer of x:", *&x)
    fmt.Println("Dereference y:", *y)
    fmt.Println("Value of y:", y)
}

Value of x: 7
Pointer location of x: 0xc000014060
Dereference pointer of x: 7
Dereference y: 7
Value of y: 0xc000014060

[18]

Standard Input and Output

The fmt library provides the functions for inputting and outputting strings.

import "fmt"

greeting := "Hello world"
fmt.Print(greeting, ", how are you?\n")

Printf will do more complex string formatting/substitution.

greeting := "Ahoy there matey"
fmt.Printf("%v, how are ye?\n", greeting)

Sprintf is used for formatting strings without printing to standard output.

soup := "garden vegetable"
soup_msg := fmt.Sprintf("Today's soup is %v.", soup)
fmt.Println(soup_msg)

Println can do standard default formatting by adding spaces between variables and strings along with adding a newline character at the end of the print statement.

Scan() is used to get a single string (space and newline delimited). The input will be stored to a pointer address.

var greeting string
/// Example input: "Hey"
fmt.Scan(&string)
fmt.Printf("%v, how are ye?\n", greeting)

A long string consisting of spaces can be entered by using Scanf() and quoting the input.

var greeting string
// Example input: "Hello everyone"
fmt.Scan("%q", &string)
fmt.Printf("%v, how are ye?\n", greeting)

Common formats:

  • %v = The value of a variable.

  • %q = A double quoted string.

  • %p = The pointer address of a variable.

  • %T = The data type of a variable.

[3]

Templating

Go provides it’s own templating domain specific language (DSL). These templates can be manipulated and rendered using the text/template package.

Functions

Data interpretation:

  • call = Execute a specified function and optionally provide arguments to it.

  • index = Provide the value of a variable at a specified index.

  • len = Provide the length of a list or map variable.

  • slice = Provide the value of a variable slice.

Print:

  • html = Provide a HTML-escaped string.

  • js = Provide a JSON-escaped string.

  • urlquery = Provide a HTML-escaped URL string.

  • print = Print using fmt.Sprint().

  • printf = Print with formatting using fmt.Sprintf().

  • println = Print with newline characters using fmt.Sprintln().

Operators:

  • Binary/Comparison

    • eq = Equal to.

    • ne = Neither to.

    • lt = Less than.

    • le = Less than or equal to.

    • gt = Greater than.

    • ge = Greater than or equal to.

  • Logical

    • and

    • not

    • or

[27]

Usage and Examples

Create a no-operation comment.

{{ /* <COMMENT> */ }}

Reference the value provided to the template.

{{ . }}

Reference the value of a variable in a map provided to the template.

{{ .<VARIABLE> }}
{{ .<VARIABLE>.<KEY1>.<KEY2> }}

Use a binary or logical operator.

{{ if <OPERATOR> <VARIABLE_1> <VARIABLE_2> }}

Check if a variable is defined (not nil).

{{ if .<VARIABLE> }}

Use an if conditional statement.

{{ if <LOGIC> }}
{{ else if <LOGIC> }}
{{ else }}
{{ end }}

Reference the value of the map, slice, or array at the specified index.

{{ index .<VARIABLE> <INDEX> }}

Find the length of a variable.

{{ len .<VARIABLE_LIST> }}

Save the length to a variable to be used later.

{{ $var_length := len .<VARIABLE_LIST> }}

See if the length of the variable is 10.

{{ if eq $var_length 10 }}

Loop through a list.

{{ with .<VARIABLE_LIST> }}
    {{ range . }}
    {{ .Name }}
{{ end }}

Define a template in one file and then use it in another.

{{ define "<NESTED_TEMPLATE_NAME>" }}
{{ end }}

{{ template "<NESTED_TEMPLATE_NAME>" }}

Use a variable from another template.

{{ template "<NESTED_TEMPLATE_NAME>" .<VARIABLE> }}

Loop through every field in each list item.

{{ range .<VARIABLE_LIST> }}
    {{ .<KEY1> }}
    {{ .<KEY2> }}
{{ end }}

[27][28][29]

Arithmetic Math

These basic arithmetic operators are available to be used without any external libraries:

  • Add = +

  • Subtract = -

  • Multiply = *

  • Divide = /

  • Remainder = %

A number can become the opposite sign (negative or positive) by placing a - in front of the variable name. [8] For more advanced functionality, use the math library.

Functions

All Go programs must define a package name and the main() function. Below is a minimal example of how a program looks. Run the code with go run <FILE>.go or build a portable binary and run it by executing go build <FILE>.go && ./<FILE>.

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Print("This is a simple Go program.\n")
}

User defined functions need a name, input variables and their types, as well as the return data type.

func <FUNCTION_NAME>(<VARIABLE> <DATA_TYPE>) <RETURN_DATA_TYPE> {
}

If multiple variables share the same data type, they can be consolidated by only mentioning the data type once.

func <FUNCTION_NAME>(<VARIABLE1>, <VARIABLE2> <DATA_TYPE>) <RETURN_DATA_TYPE> {
}

Example:

func divide_two_numbers(a, b float32) float32 {
    return a / b
}

Multiple return datas can be defined within parentheses.

func <FUNCTION_NAME>(<VARIABLE> <DATA_TYPE>) (<RETURN_DATA_TYPE1>, <RETURN_DATA_TYPE2>) {
}

Specific local variables can also be returned.

func <FUNCTION_NAME>(<VARIABLE> <DATA_TYPE>) <RETURN_VARIABLE> <RETURN_DATA_TYPE> {
}

[4]

Certain return variables can be ignored by using “_” as a place holder. In this example, varOne will be set to 1.

func returnTwoThings() (int, int) {
    return 1, 2
}

func getTwoThings() (int) {
    varOne, _ := returnTwoThings()
}

Functions cannot specify default parameters/inputs. Instead, logic can be added to a function to see if a parameter is an empty variable. [25]

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    var msg string
    echo(msg)
}

func echo(msg string) {

    if msg == "" {
        msg = "Hello world!"
    }

    fmt.Println(msg)
}

Conditionals

Control and Operators

Comparison Operator

Description

==

Equal to.

!=

Not equal to.

>

Greater than.

<

Less than.

>=

Greater than or equal to.

<=

Lesser than or equal to.

Logical Operator

Description

&&

All booleans must be true.

||

At least one boolean must be true.

!

No booleans can be true.

Control statements for loops:

  • break = Stop the current loop.

  • continue = Move onto the next iteration of the loop.

[5]

For

The for loop optionally creates a local variable, does a comparison, and increments it at the end of the current iteration.

for <VARIABLE_INITIALIZATION>; <COMPARISON>; <INCREMENT> {
}

Example:

for x := 0; x < 3; x++ {
    fmt.Println(x)
}

While loops can be created by using a basic for loop.

for <COMPARISON> {
    <INCREMENT>
}

Example:

x := 0

for x < 3{
    x += 1
}

An infinite loop can be defined by not using any arguments for the loop.

for {
}

[5]

If

if statements are used to run through multiple comparisons and can optionally have a default block.

if <COMPARISON> {
}

if <COMPARISON> {
} else {
}

if <COMPARISON1> {
} else if <COMPARISON2> {
} else {
}

[5]

Switch

The switch statement is a simplified if statement to check the value of a variable. Only the first matched case will be executed.

switch <VARIABLE> {
    case <CASE1>: {
    }
    case <CASE2>, <CASE3>: {
    }
    default: {
    }
}

Comparisons can also be checked where a case will be matched if a boolean returns True.

switch {
    case <COMPARISON1>: {
    }
    case <COMPARISON2>: {
    }
    default: {
    }
}

[5]

File Input and Output

File handling is done via the io/ioutil library. The two main methods are ReadFile and WriteFile. Information read and written from/to uses as an array of the bytes data type.

package main

import (
    "io/ioutil"
)

The ReadFile method will first return the file text in an array of bytes and, if there was a failure, it will also return an error as a string.

Syntax:

text_bytes, error := ioutil.ReadFile(<FILE_NAME>)

The WriteFile method will only return an error message if it fails. Otherwise, a variable assigned to it will be kept as having a nil value.

Syntax:

error := ioutil.WriteFile(<FILE_NAME>, <INPUT_BYTES>, <FILE_MODE_PERMISSIONS>)

Example:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "io/ioutil"
)

func main() {
    file := "hello_world.txt"
    text := []byte("Hello world")
    error := ioutil.WriteFile(file, text, 0644)

    if error != nil {
        fmt.Println(error)
    } else {
        fmt.Println("The file was written successfully.")
    }

    read_text_bytes, error := ioutil.ReadFile(file)
    read_text_string := string(read_text_bytes)

    if error != nil {
        fmt.Println(error)
    } else {
        fmt.Printf("The file says: \n%v\n", read_text_string)
    }
}

The file was written successfully.
The file says:
Hello world

More advanced operations for files (such as appending text, truncating, renaming/relocating, etc.) are handled via the os library.

import "os"

For appending to a file, the os.OpenFile method should be used. It provides more advanced options than the simpler os.Open and ioutil.ReadFile methods.

OpenFile(<FILE_NAME>, <ATTRIBUTES>, <PERMISSIONS>)

Here is the list of valid attributes for opening the file.

  • os.O_APPEND = Append to an existing file.

  • os.O_CREATE = Create a new file.

  • os.O_RDONLY = Read.

  • os.O_RDWR = Read and write.

  • os.O_TRUNC = Truncate a file / empty it.

  • os.O_WRONLY = Write.

Multiple attributes can be combined using an OR | statement. The os file methods also require the object to be manually closed (something that is done automatically with the ioutil methods).

text_file, error = OpenFile("example.txt", os.O_CREATE|os.O_APPEND, 0644)
text_file.WriteString("This is a new line of text!\n")
text_file.close()

[7]

With using a scanner from bfio, more control can be had. For example, a file can be read line by line.

package main

import(
       "bufio"
       "fmt"
       "os"
)

func main() {
     file := "example.txt"
     file_open, err := os.Open(file)

     if err != nil {
             fmt.Println("Error opening file:", file, "\n", err)
     }
     // Required to prevent an internal Go exception when the open file cannot be opened.
     defer file_open.Close()

     file_scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file_open)

     // Print out each line of the file.
     // Scanner.Scan() has a maximum size of 4096 bytes. Use bufio's ReadLine() instead for longer lines.
     for file_scanner.Scan() {
             fmt.Println(file_scanner.Text())
     }

     err = file_scanner.Err()

     if err != nil {
             fmt.Println("Error reading file:", file, "\n", err)
     }
}

Logging

The log package in Go provides a standardized way to manage logs. They are sent to standard error and each log is separated by a newline. Go has three main logging types by default: Print, Fatal, and Panic. [30]

  • Print = The standard call to output a log line.

  • Fatal = After logging, the program will execute os.Exit(1) which will exit immediately and return an error code of 1.

  • Panic = After logging, the program will execute panic() and try as much as possible to end all of its processes gracefully.

The default logger will use the format flag log.LstdFlags which is actually log.Ldate|log.Ltime to display the date and the time.

package main

import (
        "log"
)

func main() {
        log.Println("Hello world")
}

2021/02/08 11:42:09 Hello world

Consider creating new and separate loggers for debug, info, warning, error, and critical. Those are the log levels that Python uses. [31]

package main

import (
        "log"
        "os"
)

func main() {
        warnLog := log.New(os.Stderr, "WARNING: ", log.Ldate|log.Ltime|log.Lshortfile)
        warnLog.Println("This is a test.")
}

WARNING: 2021/02/08 10:45:39 main.go:15: This is a test.

Log to a file by setting the output stream to an os.OpenFile() object.

package main

import (
        "log"
        "os"
)

func main() {
        logFile, error := os.OpenFile("example.log",
                os.O_APPEND|os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0600)
        if error != nil {
                log.Println(error)
        }
        defer logFile.Close()

        exampleLogger := log.New(logFile, "", log.LUTC|log.Ldate|log.Ltime|log.Lshortfile)
        exampleLogger.Print("This text will only appear in the example.log file.")
}

$ cat example.log
2021/02/08 18:21:06 main.go:25: This text will only appear in the example.log file.

Testing

Go natively supports tests with the testing library. When building binaries, tests are never included to keep them small.

Go tests should be created in a new file named after the primary file or package it will test: <FILE_TO_TEST>_test.go. The tests are defined using the syntax func Test<FUNCTION_NAME>(*testing.T) {}.

Example:

package hello

import "fmt"

func Greeting(phrase string) string {
    if phrase == "hello" {
        return "Hello world!"
    } else if phrase == "goodbye" {
        return "Goodbye cruel world!"
    } else {
        return "Not a valid phrase. Please use 'hello' or 'goodbye'."
    }
}

func main() {
    fmt.Println(Greeting("hello"))
    fmt.Println(Greeting("goodbye"))
    fmt.Println(Greeting("unknown"))
}

package hello

import "testing"

func TestGreeting(t *testing.T) {
    greeting_hello := Greeting("hello")
    // This check is missing the "ld!" at the end of the phrase so it will fail.
    if greeting_hello != "Hello wor" {
        t.Error("Greeting(\"hello\") provided the wrong output:", greeting_hello)
    }
}

Tests can be run within the current package directory, using a GitHub repository, or a single test file can be tested.

$ go test
$ go test github.com/<USER>/<PROJECT>
$ go test <MAIN_FILE> <TEST_FILE>

Run a “short mode” test. This will set test.Short() to True and if then a Test function can end/return if t.Skip() is called.

$ go test -short

func Test<FUNCTION_NAME>(t *testing.T) {
    if testing.Short() {
        t.Skip("Short mode detected. Skipping test.")
    }
}

Show the percentage of test coverage.

$ go test -cover

Alternatively, a graphical HTML page can be generated with the test coverage results.

$ go test -cover -coverprofile=c.out
$ go tool cover -html=c.out -o coverage.html

Go also supports special benchmark tests as defined using the syntax func Benchmark<FUNCTION_NAME>() {}. These tests are not run by default.

$ go test -bench

[14][15]

Go test functions that call the t.Parallel() function will be marked as being able to run in parallel mode. By default, the go test command will not run any tests in parallel and requires an additional environment variable or flag to be set.

$ GOMAXPROCS=8 go test # method 1
$ go test -parallel 8 # method 2
$ go test -cpu=8 # method 3

Other libraries useful for testing:

  • testing/iotest = Functions for testing Readers and Writers.

  • testing/quick = Functions for doing assertations.

  • net/http/httptest = Functions for manipulating and helping test HTTP interactions.

[24]

Libraries

All of the libraries and methods can be found at https://golang.org/pkg/. The methods will list all of the possible input and output values.

Standard

(Files)

These are the methods related to examining and manipulating files.

  • io.ioutil

    • NopCloser

    • ReadAll

    • ReadDir

    • ReadFile

    • TempDir

    • TempFile

    • WriteFile

  • os

    • Chown

    • Chmod

    • Chtimes

    • Create

    • Chdir

    • FileInfo

    • Getwd

    • IsExist

    • IsNotExist

    • IsPathSeparator

    • Lchown

    • Link

    • Mkdir

    • MkdirAll

    • Open

    • OpenFile

    • Readlink

    • Remove

    • RemoveAll

    • Rename

    • SameFile

    • Stat

    • Symlink

    • TempDir

    • Truncate

    • UserCacheDir

    • UserConfigDir

    • UserHomeDir

(File Object)

These are methods that are valid for a File object/data type.

  • Create

  • NewFile

  • Open

  • OpenFile

  • Chdir

  • Chmod

  • Chown

  • Close

  • Fd

  • Name

  • Read

  • ReadAt

  • Readdir

  • Readdirnames

  • Seek

  • SetDeadline

  • SetReadDeadline

  • SetWriteDeadline

  • Stat

  • Sync

  • SyscallConn

  • Truncate

  • Write

  • WriteAt

  • WriteString

log

  • Print[f|ln] = Log message. Print() will automatically add a newline after a log message if there is not one

  • Fatal[f|ln] = Log message and then os.Exit(1).

  • Panic[f|ln] = Log message and then panic().

  • SetFlags = Change the flags for the logger.

  • SetOutput = Change the I/O stream for the logger.

  • SetPrefix = Change the prefix for the logger.

  • Flags = Return the value of the flags.

  • Output = Return the value of the output.

  • Prefix = Return the value of the prefix.

[30]

(Logger Object)

These are methods that are valid for a Logger object type.

  • New = Create a new Logger() object.

    • out io.Writer = The I/O stream to send logs to. Common values include os.Stderr or an object of os.OpenFile().

    • prefix string = A prefix to use for every log message. This comes before the flags that are set.

    • flag int = The log.<CONSTANT> flags to use for standardized date, time, and file name formatting. All of the available constants are listed here. Common values include log.LstdFlags and log.LUTC|log.Ldate|log.Ltime|log.Lshortfile.

  • Print[f|ln]

  • Fatal[f|ln]

  • Panic[f|ln]

  • SetFlags

  • SetOutput

  • SetPrefix

  • Flags

  • Output

  • Prefix

[30]

math

  • Abs = Absolute value.

  • Max = Maximum. Return the bigger number.

  • Min = Minimum. Return the smaller number.

  • Power = Exponential power.

  • Round = Round to the nearest whole number.

  • Sqrt = Square root.

  • rand = The random number generation library. [9]

    • Seed = The seed used for helping to generate different random numbers. Defaults to 1.

    • New(<SEED>) = Create a new rand object, optionally providing a seed.

    • <NUMBER_DATA_TYPE> = The random library supports creating a random number in any related data type. For example, Int().

[10]

strings

This library provides useful functions for manipulating and doing logic checks on strings. [23]

  • Builder = Efficiently create a new string.

  • Compare

  • Contains

  • ContainsAny

  • ContainsRune

  • Count

  • EqualFold

  • Fields

  • FieldsFunc

  • HasPrefix

  • HasSuffix

  • Index

  • IndexAny

  • IndexByte

  • IndexFunc

  • IndexRune

  • Join

  • LastIndex

  • LastIndexAny

  • LastIndexByte

  • LastIndexFunc

  • Map

  • NewReplacer

  • Repeat

  • Replace

  • ReplaceAll

  • Split

  • SplitAfter

  • SplitAfterN

  • SplitN

  • Title

  • ToLower

  • ToLowerSpecial

  • ToTitle

  • ToTitleSpecial

  • ToUpper

  • ToUpperSpecial

  • Trim

  • TrimFunc

  • TrimLeft

  • TrimLeftFunc

  • TrimPrefix

  • TrimRight

  • TrimRightFunc

  • TrimSpace

  • TrimSuffix

testing

Some functions are shared between type T (tests) and type B (benchmarks). Those are referred to as type TB functions.

type TB:

  • Error and Errorf = Log output and then Fail.

  • Fail = The current test is marked as failed but tests will continue to run.

  • FailNow = The current test is marked as failed and the program stops immediately.

  • Failed (bool) = If the current function has been marked as failed.

  • Fatal and Fatalf = Log output and then FailNow.

  • Helper = Mark a function as a helper function and not an actual test.

  • Log and Logf = Log output that will be displayed after all tests have succeeded.

  • Name = The current function that is being executed.

  • Skip and Skipf = Log output and then SkipNow.

  • SkipNow = Skip the current function test and continue on with the other tests.

  • Skipped (bool) = If a test was skipped.

type B:

  • ReportMetric (float64) = Report a custom metric.

  • StartTimer = Continue a timer after StopTimer was called.

  • StopTimer = Stop the test timer. When testing is started a timer always starts counting the time until told to stop.

Other testing functions:

  • Benchmark = Benchmark a single function.

  • BenchmarkResult (struct) = The full benchmark results.

  • Coverage (float64) = The percent of test coverage.

  • Short (bool) = If the go test -short flag is used.

  • Verbose (bool) = If the go test -v flag is used.

[14]

History

Bibliography

  1. “Basic types.” A Tour of Go. Accessed March 5, 2019. https://tour.golang.org/basics/11

  2. “Golang Types.” golangbot.com. February 19, 2017. Accessed March 5, 2019. https://golangbot.com/types/

  3. “Package fmt.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed March 5, 2019. https://golang.org/pkg/fmt/

  4. “Functions.” A Tour of Go. Accessed March 6, 2019. https://tour.golang.org/basics/4

  5. “Golang Control Flow Statements: If, Switch and For.” CalliCoder. January 29, 2018. Accessed March 8, 2019. https://www.callicoder.com/golang-control-flow/

  6. “The Evolution of Go: A History of Success.” QArea Blog. March 20, 2018. Accessed October 14, 2019. https://qarea.com/blog/the-evolution-of-go-a-history-of-success

  7. “Working with Files in Go.” DevDungeon. August 23, 2015. Accessed October 15, 2019. https://www.devdungeon.com/content/working-files-go

  8. “How To Do Math in Go with Operators.” How To Code in Go. May 15, 2019. Accessed March 19, 2020. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-do-math-in-go-with-operators

  9. “Package math.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed March 19, 2020. https://golang.org/pkg/math/

  10. “Package rand.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed March 19, 2020. https://golang.org/pkg/math/rand/

  11. “Getting Started.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://golang.org/doc/install

  12. “Go Release Cycle.” GitHub golang/go. January 18, 2019. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/Go-Release-Cycle

  13. “Go 1 and the Future of Go Programs.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://golang.org/doc/go1compat

  14. “Package testing.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed May 5, 2020. https://golang.org/pkg/testing/

  15. “Golang basics - writing unit tests.” Alex Ellis’ Blog. February 9, 2017. Accessed April 30, 2020. https://blog.alexellis.io/golang-writing-unit-tests/

  16. “Go Documentation: godoc, go doc, godoc.org, and go/doc—Which One’s Which?” Whipperstacker. September 30, 2015. Accessed May 1, 2020. http://whipperstacker.com/2015/09/30/go-documentation-godoc-godoc-godoc-org-and-go-doc/

  17. “Effective Go.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed May 1, 2020. https://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html

  18. “More Types.” A Tour of Go. Accessed May 3, 2020. https://tour.golang.org/moretypes/1

  19. “proposal: extend the “append” built-in to work with maps #17350.” GitHub golang/go Issues. October 31, 2017. Accessed May 10, 2020. https://github.com/golang/go/issues/17350

  20. “Understanding Arrays and Slices in Go.” DigitalOcean. July 16, 2019. Accessed May 10, 2020. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/understanding-arrays-and-slices-in-go

  21. “Golang Maps by Example.” CalliCoder. March 20, 2018. Accessed May 10, 2020. https://www.callicoder.com/golang-maps/

  22. “Package bufio.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed May 11, 2020. https://golang.org/pkg/bufio/

  23. “Package strings.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed May 12, 2020. https://golang.org/pkg/strings

  24. “Lesser-Known Features of Go Test.” Splice Blog. September 3, 2014. Accessed May 18, 2020. https://splice.com/blog/lesser-known-features-go-test/

  25. “Default value in Go’s method.” Stack Overflow. September 7, 2018. Accessed May 19, 2020. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19612449/default-value-in-gos-method

  26. “Naming Rules.” GitHub unknown/go-code-convention. November 6, 2015. Accessed May 26, 2020. https://github.com/unknwon/go-code-convention/blob/master/en-US/naming_rules.md

  27. “Package template.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed July 30, 2020. https://golang.org/pkg/text/template/

  28. “Using Go Templates.” Gopher Academy Blog. December 27, 2017. Accessed July 30, 2020. https://blog.gopheracademy.com/advent-2017/using-go-templates/

  29. “Golang Templates Cheatsheet.” Curtis Vermeeren. September 14, 2017. Accessed July 30, 2020. https://curtisvermeeren.github.io/2017/09/14/Golang-Templates-Cheatsheet

  30. “Package log.” The Go Programming Language. Accessed February 8, 2021. https://golang.org/pkg/log/

  31. “Logging HOWTO.” Python documentation. February 8, 2021. Accessed February 8, 2021. https://docs.python.org/3/howto/logging.html

  32. “iota - Create Effective Constants in Golang.” Medium. September 5, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://medium.com/swlh/iota-create-effective-constants-in-golang-b399f94aac31

  33. “Install.” golangci-lint. Accessed April 13, 2021. https://golangci-lint.run/usage/install/

  34. “False Positives.” golangci-lint. Accessed April 13, 2021. https://golangci-lint.run/usage/false-positives/

  35. “Configuration.” golangci-lint. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://golangci-lint.run/usage/configuration/