Getting Started with Go, a primer for node.js developers

Who is this book for?

This book is intended for programmers who've never used the Go language before (there are some node.js specific pieces of text in the book, but you don't have to be familiar with node.js to follow along with the contents of this book) and want to gain a basic understanding of the language and tooling. By the end of the book you will have a good grasp of Go syntax, tooling and common idiomatic Go programming pattern, enough to get you up and running and writing your first applications.

For node.js programmers, I try to cover all of the main topics that you would be familiar with in node.js as they relate to Go, such as npm, async programming, coding gotchas, unit testing, tooling and deploying, so that you can transfer your node.js knowledge over to Go.

I hope that you find this book useful, if you see any issues or things that you disagree with, shoot me an email [email protected] and I will take a look. Enjoy.

Major Topics

Whenever you learn a new language, it's not just the syntax you have to learn, that is just one small piece, but several other areas as well if you want to write code efficiently. This book will cover:

• Language Syntax

• Tooling (building, syncing, dependency management)

• Idiomatic Code Patterns

• Gotchas

• Testing

My aim here is not to write a novel, but something you can breeze through pretty quickly and get up and running. Go has really great documentation and tutorials, but it can be a bit overwhelming when you are getting started. I recommend reading this book, then going to the Go wiki: https://github.com/golang/go/wiki and work your way through the information there in more detail.