Nathan Youngman - Get Programming with Go

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The Go Gopher is 2009 Rene French and used under Creative Commons Attributions 3.0 license.

Original illustrations by Olga Shalakhina are 2015 Olga Shalakhina and used by permission.

Original illustrations by Erick Zelaya are 2018 Erick Zelaya and used by permission.

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Acquisition editor: Michael StephensDevelopment editors: Jenny Stout, Marina MichaelsTechnical development editors: Matthew Merkes, Joel KotarskiReview editor: Aleksandar DragosavljeviProject editor: David NovakCopyeditor: Corbin CollinsProofreaders: Melody Dolab, Elizabeth MartinTechnical proofreader: Christopher HauptTypesetter: Dottie MarsicoGraphics: Olga Shalakhina, Erick Zelaya, April MilneCover designer: Monica Kamsvaag

Manning Publications Co.20 Baldwin RoadPO Box 761Shelter Island, NY 11964

ISBN 9781617293092

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Everything changes and nothing remains still.

Heraclitus

While traveling Europe in 2005, Nathan heard rumblings of a new web framework called Ruby on Rails. Returning to Alberta in time to celebrate Christmas, he found a copy of Agile Web Development with Rails (Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2005) at the computer bookstore downtown. Over the next two years, he transitioned his career from Cold-Fusion to Ruby.

At university in York, England, Roger was introduced to the radical simplicity of Bell Labs Research UNIX and the Plan 9 OS produced by the same group, which included Go authors Rob Pike and Ken Thompson. Roger became a fan and later worked with the Inferno system, which used its own language, Limbo, a close ancestor of Go.

In November 2009, Go was announced as an open source project. Roger immediately saw its potential and started using it, making contributions to its standard library and ecosystem. He remains delighted by Gos success, now programs in Go full time, and runs a local Go meetup.

Nathan watched Rob Pikes tech talk announcing Go but didnt give Go a serious look until 2011. When a coworker spoke highly of Go, Nathan decided to read through a rough cut of The Go Programming Language Phrasebook (Addison-Wesley Professional, 2012) over Christmas break. Over the next few years, he went from using Go on hobby projects and blogging about Go (nathany.com) to organizing a local Go meetup (edmontongo.org) and writing Go at work.

Theres no end to learning in the world of computer science, where the tools and techniques are continuously changing and improving. Whether you have a degree in computer science or are just starting out, teaching yourself new skills is important. We hope this book serves you well as you learn the Go programming language.

What a privilege it has been to write this book and help you learn Go. Thank you for reading!

These pages represent the efforts of many individuals, not merely the authors on the cover.

First and foremost, we would like to thank our editors Jennifer Stout and Marina Michaels for providing valuable feedback and for continuing to push us little by little over the finish line. Also, thank you to Joel Kotarski and Matt Merkes for your spot-on technical editing, Christopher Haupt for technical proofing, and copyeditor Corbin Collins for improving our grammar and style. Our thanks go to Bert Bates and to series editors Dan Maharry and Elesha Hyde for the conversations and guidelines that helped shape Get Programming with Go.

We would like to thank Olga Shalakhina and Erick Zelaya for the wonderful illustrations, Monica Kamsvaag for the cover design, April Milne for sprucing up our figures, and Rene French for giving Go the lighthearted mascot that we all love. A special thank you goes to Dan Allen for creating AsciiDoctor, the tool used to write this book, and for his ongoing support.

This book wouldnt be a reality without Marjan Bace, Matko Hrvatin, Mehmed Pasic, Rebecca Rinehart, Nicole Butterfield, Candace Gillhoolley, Ana Romac, Janet Vail, David Novak, Dottie Marsico, Melody Dolab, Elizabeth Martin, and the whole crew at Manning for getting Get Programming with Go into the hands of readers.

Thanks also to Aleksandar Dragosavljevi for getting this book to reviewers, and to all the reviewers for providing valuable feedback, including Brendan Ward, Charles Kevin, Doug Sparling, Esther Tsai, Gianluigi Spagnuolo, Jeff Smith, John Guthrie, Luca Campobasso, Luis Gutierrez, Mario Carrion, Mikal Dautrey, Nat Luengnaruemitchai, Nathan Farr, Nicholas Boers, Nicholas Land, Nitin Gode, Orlando Snchez, Philippe Charrire, Rob Weber, Robin Percy, Steven Parr, Stuart Woodward, Tom Goodheard, Ulises Flynn, and William E. Wheeler. Wed also like to thank all the early access readers who provided feedback through the forums.

Finally, we would like to thank Michael Stephens for suggesting the crazy idea of writing a book, and the Go community for creating a language and ecosystem that were excited to write about!

Naturally, I need to thank my parents, without whom I wouldnt be here today. Both of my parents encouraged me to pursue my interest in computer programming from an early age, providing books and courses and access to computers.

In addition to the official reviewers, I would like to thank Matthias Stone for providing feedback on early drafts, and Terry Youngman for helping me brainstorm ideas. I also want to thank the Edmonton Go community for cheering me on, and my employer, Mark Madsen, for providing the flexibility to make this endeavor feasible.

More than anyone else, I want to thank Roger Pepp for coming alongside me as coauthor. He shortened the long road ahead by writing , and gave the project a much needed bump in momentum.

Most of all, Id like to thank my wife, Carmen, for her forbearance and support as I worked on this book when we could have been out walking in the hills.

Many thanks also to Nathan Youngman and Manning for their trust in taking me on as coauthor and for their patience during the final stages of this book.