Go Language Cheatsheet

· 1345 words · 7 minute read

Hello world 🔗

  • create a new directory with a name like hellogo.
  • create a new file inside with the name main.go.
  • add this code inside that main.go file.
package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
  message := greetMe("world")
  fmt.Println(message)
}

func greetMe(name string) string {
  return "Hello, " + name + "!"
}
  • open the directory in a Terminal, and run go mod init hellogo
  • then go mod tidy
  • then build the project with go build main.go
  • run the program with ./main, you’ll see Hello world as a result of program execution.

Constants in Go 🔗

Constants can be character, string, boolean, or numeric values.

const Phi = 1.618
const Size int64 = 1024
const x, y = 1, 2
const (
  Pi = 3.14
  E  = 2.718
)
const (
  Sunday = iota
  Monday
  Tuesday
  Wednesday
  Thursday
  Friday
  Saturday
)

Variables in Go 🔗

  • Variable declaration
var msg string
var msg = "Hello, world!"
var msg string = "Hello, world!"
var x, y int
var x, y int = 1, 2
var x, msg = 1, "Hello, world!"
msg = "Hello"
  • Declaration list
var (
  x int
  y = 20
  z int = 30
  d, e = 40, "Hello"
  f, g string
)

Go can infer the variable type, so you can just write this.

msg := "Hello"
x, msg := 1, "Hello"

Basic types of Go language 🔗

Strings:

str := "Hello"

str := `Multiline
string`

Numbers:

num := 3          // int
num := 3.         // float64
num := 3 + 4i     // complex128
num := byte('a')  // byte (alias for uint8)

var u uint = 7        // uint (unsigned)
var p float32 = 22.7  // 32-bit float

Type conversions:

i := 2
f := float64(i)
u := uint(i)

Arrays: Arrays have a fixed size.

// var numbers [5]int
numbers := [...]int{0, 0, 0, 0, 0}

Slices: Slices have a dynamic size, unlike arrays.

slice := []int{2, 3, 4}

slice := []byte("Hello")

Pointers:

Pointers point to a memory location of a variable. Go is fully garbage-collected.

func main () {
  b := *getPointer()
  fmt.Println("Value is", b)
}
 
func getPointer () (myPointer *int) {
  a := 234
  return &a
}
 
a := new(int)
*a = 234

Flow control 🔗

Conditional:

if day == "sunday" || day == "saturday" {
  rest()
} else if day == "monday" && isTired() {
  groan()
} else {
  work()
}

Statements in if:

A condition in an if statement can be preceded with a statement before a ;. Variables declared by the statement are only in scope until the end of the if.

if _, err := doThing(); err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Uh oh")
}

For loop:

for count := 0; count <= 10; count++ {
  fmt.Println("My counter is at", count)
}

For-Range loop:

entry := []string{"Abanoub","Hanna","Bob"}
for i, val := range entry {
  fmt.Printf("At position %d, the character %s is present\n", i, val)
}

Switch:

switch day {
  case "sunday":
    // cases don't "fall through" by default!
    fallthrough

  case "saturday":
    rest()

  default:
    work()
}

While loop:

n := 0
x := 42
for n != x {
  n := guess()
}

Functions in Go 🔗

Lambdas:

myfunc := func() bool {
  return x > 10000
}

Multiple return types:

a, b := getMessage()

func getMessage() (a string, b string) {
  return "Hello", "World"
}

Named return values:

By defining the return value names in the signature, a return (no args) will return variables with those names.

func split(sum int) (x, y int) {
  x = sum * 4 / 9
  y = sum - x
  return
}

Packages in Go 🔗

Importing:

import "fmt"
import "math/rand"

Or

import (
  "fmt"        // gives fmt.Println
  "math/rand"  // gives rand.Intn
)

Both are the same.

Aliases:

import r "math/rand"
 
r.Intn()

Packages:

Every package file has to start with package.

package hello

Exporting names:

Exported names begin with capital letters.

func Hello () {
  ···
}

Concurrency in Go 🔗

Goroutines:

Channels are concurrency-safe communication objects, used in goroutines.

func main() {
  // A "channel"
  ch := make(chan string)

  // Start concurrent routines
  go push("Moe", ch)
  go push("Larry", ch)
  go push("Curly", ch)

  // Read 3 results
  // (Since our goroutines are concurrent,
  // the order isn't guaranteed!)
  fmt.Println(<-ch, <-ch, <-ch)
}

func push(name string, ch chan string) {
  msg := "Hey, " + name
  ch <- msg
}

Buffered channels:

Buffered channels limit the amount of messages it can keep.

ch := make(chan int, 2)
ch <- 1
ch <- 2
ch <- 3
// fatal error:
// all goroutines are asleep - deadlock!

WaitGroup:

A WaitGroup waits for a collection of goroutines to finish. The main goroutine calls Add to set the number of goroutines to wait for. The goroutine calls wg.Done() when it finishes.

import "sync"

func main() {
  var wg sync.WaitGroup
  
  for _, item := range itemList {
    // Increment WaitGroup Counter
    wg.Add(1)
    go doOperation(&wg, item)
  }
  // Wait for goroutines to finish
  wg.Wait()
  
}

func doOperation(wg *sync.WaitGroup, item string) {
  defer wg.Done()
  // do operation on item
  // ...
}

Closing channels:

// Closes a channel
ch <- 1
ch <- 2
ch <- 3
close(ch)

// Iterates across a channel until its closed
for i := range ch {
  ···
}

// Closed if ok == false
v, ok := <- ch

Error control 🔗

Defer:

Defers running a function until the surrounding function returns. The arguments are evaluated immediately, but the function call is not ran until later.

func main() {
  defer fmt.Println("Done")
  fmt.Println("Working...")
}

Deferring functions:

The defer func uses current value of d, unless we use a pointer to get final value at end of main.

func main() {
  defer func() {
    fmt.Println("Done")
  }()
  fmt.Println("Working...")
}

Lambdas are better suited for defer blocks.

func main() {
  var d = int64(0)
  defer func(d *int64) {
    fmt.Printf("& %v Unix Sec\n", *d)
  }(&d)
  fmt.Print("Done ")
  d = time.Now().Unix()
}

Structs 🔗

Defining:

type Vertex struct {
  X int
  Y int
}

func main() {
  v := Vertex{1, 2}
  v.X = 4
  fmt.Println(v.X, v.Y)
}

Literals: You can also put field names.

v := Vertex{X: 1, Y: 2}

// Field names can be omitted
v := Vertex{1, 2}

// Y is implicit
v := Vertex{X: 1}

Pointers to structs:

Doing v.X is the same as doing (*v).X, when v is a pointer.

v := &Vertex{1, 2}
v.X = 2

Methods 🔗

Receivers:

There are no classes, but you can define functions with receivers.

type Vertex struct {
  X, Y float64
}

func (v Vertex) Abs() float64 {
  return math.Sqrt(v.X * v.X + v.Y * v.Y)
}

v := Vertex{1, 2}
v.Abs()

Mutation:

By defining your receiver as a pointer (*Vertex), you can do mutations.

func (v *Vertex) Scale(f float64) {
  v.X = v.X * f
  v.Y = v.Y * f
}

v := Vertex{6, 12}
v.Scale(0.5)
// `v` is updated

Interfaces in Go 🔗

A basic interface:

type Shape interface {
  Area() float64
  Perimeter() float64
}

Methods:

The methods defined in Shape are implemented in Rectangle.

func (r Rectangle) Area() float64 {
  return r.Length * r.Width
}

func (r Rectangle) Perimeter() float64 {
  return 2 * (r.Length + r.Width)
}

Struct:

Struct Rectangle implicitly implements interface Shape by implementing all of its methods.

type Rectangle struct {
  Length, Width float64
}

Interface example:

func main() {
  var r Shape = Rectangle{Length: 3, Width: 4}
  fmt.Printf("Type of r: %T, Area: %v, Perimeter: %v.", r, r.Area(), r.Perimeter())
}

More resources to learn Go programming language 🔗

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