forked from cadey/xesite
blog/we-have-go-2: more changes from the park
This commit is contained in:
parent
1d0066eeda
commit
b1264c8b69
|
@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- modules
|
- modules
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
I have been using Go since Go 1.4. Since I started using Go so long ago, I’ve
|
I've been using Go since Go 1.4. Since I started using Go so long ago, I’ve
|
||||||
seen the language evolve significantly. The Go I write today is roughly the same
|
seen the language evolve significantly. The Go I write today is roughly the same
|
||||||
Go as the Go I wrote back when I was still learning the language, but overall
|
Go as the Go I wrote back when I was still learning the language, but overall
|
||||||
it’s evolved and changed into something similar yet different feeling in
|
it’s evolved and changed into something similar yet different feeling in
|
||||||
practice. Thinking back over the years, here are some of the biggest ticket
|
practice. Thinking back over the years, here are some of the biggest ticket
|
||||||
items that stand out for me:
|
items that really changed how I use Go on a daily basis:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
* The compiler rewrite in Go
|
* The compiler rewrite in Go
|
||||||
* Go modules
|
* Go modules
|
||||||
|
@ -28,18 +28,28 @@ have gotten as lucky as I have as consistently as I have.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Releasing a “Go 2” has become a philosophical and political challenge due to the
|
Releasing a “Go 2” has become a philosophical and political challenge due to the
|
||||||
forces that be. “Go 2” has kind of gotten the feeling of “this is never going to
|
forces that be. “Go 2” has kind of gotten the feeling of “this is never going to
|
||||||
happen is it” with how the political forces within and without the Go team are
|
happen, is it?” with how the political forces within and without the Go team are
|
||||||
functioning. They seem to have been incrementally releasing new features and
|
functioning. They seem to have been incrementally releasing new features and
|
||||||
using version gating in `go.mod` to make it easier on people. This is pretty
|
using version gating in `go.mod` to make it easier on people instead of a big
|
||||||
great and I am well in favour of this approach, but with all of the changes that
|
semver-breaking release.
|
||||||
have built up there really should be a Go 2 by this point. If only to make no
|
|
||||||
significant changes and tag what we have today as Go 2.
|
This is pretty great and I am well in favour of this approach, but with all of
|
||||||
|
the changes that have built up there really should be a Go 2 by this point. If
|
||||||
|
only to make no significant changes and tag what we have today as Go 2.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">Take everything I say here with a grain
|
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">Take everything I say here with a grain
|
||||||
of salt the size of east Texas. I am not an expert in programming language
|
of salt the size of east Texas. I am not an expert in programming language
|
||||||
design and I do not pretend to be one on TV. I am also not a member of the Go
|
design and I do not pretend to be one on TV. I am also not a member of the Go
|
||||||
team nor do I pretend to be one or see myself becoming one in the
|
team nor do I pretend to be one or see myself becoming one in the
|
||||||
future.</xeblog-conv>
|
future.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
If you are on the Go team and think that something I said here was observably
|
||||||
|
wrong, please [contact me](/contact) so I can correct it. I have tried to
|
||||||
|
contain my personal feelings or observations about things to these conversation
|
||||||
|
snippets.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This is a look back at the huge progress that has been made since Go 1 released
|
||||||
|
and what I'd consider to be the headline features of Go 2.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## The Compiler Rewrite in Go
|
## The Compiler Rewrite in Go
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
@ -59,6 +69,23 @@ point where Go didn’t have the easy to use cross-compiling superpower it
|
||||||
currently has, and I think that is a more sure marker of success than anything
|
currently has, and I think that is a more sure marker of success than anything
|
||||||
else.</xeblog-conv>
|
else.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This one feature is probably at the heart of more CI flows, debian package
|
||||||
|
releases and other workflows than we can know. It's really hard to understate
|
||||||
|
how simple this kind of thing makes distributing software for other
|
||||||
|
architectures, especially given that macOS has just switched over to aarch64
|
||||||
|
CPUs.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Having the compiler be self-hosting does end up causing a minor amount of
|
||||||
|
grief for people wanting to bootstrap a Go compiler from absolute source code
|
||||||
|
on a new Linux distribtion (and slightly more after the minimum Go compiler
|
||||||
|
version to compile Go will be raised to Go 1.17 with the release of Go 1.19
|
||||||
|
in about 6 months from the time of this post being written). This isn't too
|
||||||
|
big of a practical issue given how fast the compiler builds, but it is a
|
||||||
|
nonzero amount of work. The bootstrapping can be made simpler with
|
||||||
|
[gccgo](https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccgo/), a GCC frontend that is mostly
|
||||||
|
compatible with the semantics and user experience of the Go compiler that
|
||||||
|
Google makes.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Go Modules
|
## Go Modules
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In Go's dependency model, you have a folder that contains all your Go code
|
In Go's dependency model, you have a folder that contains all your Go code
|
||||||
|
@ -84,37 +111,40 @@ Just delete the `pkg` folder and poof, it’s all gone. This was great when you
|
||||||
needed to free up a bunch of disk space really quickly because over months the
|
needed to free up a bunch of disk space really quickly because over months the
|
||||||
small amount of incremental compiler state can really add up.
|
small amount of incremental compiler state can really add up.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The go compiler would fetch any missing packages from the internet at build time
|
The Go compiler would fetch any missing packages from the internet at build time
|
||||||
so things Just Worked™️. This makes it utterly trivial to check out a project and
|
so things Just Worked™️. This makes it utterly trivial to check out a project and
|
||||||
then build/run it. That combined with `go get` to automatically just figure
|
then build/run it. That combined with `go get` to automatically just figure
|
||||||
things out and install them made installing programs written in Go so easy that
|
things out and install them made installing programs written in Go so easy that
|
||||||
it’s almost magic.
|
it’s almost magic. This combined with Go's preference for making static binaries
|
||||||
|
as much as possible meant that even if the user didn't have Go installed you could
|
||||||
|
easily make a package to hand off to your users.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
It was conceptually simple to reason about. Go code goes in the GOPATH. The best
|
The GOPATH was conceptually simple to reason about. Go code goes in the GOPATH. The
|
||||||
place for it was in the GOPATH. There's no reason to put it anywhere else.
|
best place for it was in the GOPATH. There's no reason to put it anywhere else.
|
||||||
Everything was organized into its place and it was lovely.
|
Everything was organized into its place and it was lovely.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
This wasn’t perfect though. There were notable flaws in this setup that were
|
This wasn’t perfect though. There were notable flaws in this setup that were
|
||||||
easy to run into in practice.
|
easy to run into in practice:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
There wasn't a good way to make sure that everyone was using the _same copies_
|
* There wasn't a good way to make sure that everyone was using the _same copies_
|
||||||
of every library. People did add vendoring tools later to check that everyone
|
of every library. People did add vendoring tools later to check that everyone
|
||||||
was using the same copies of every package, but this also introduced problems
|
was using the same copies of every package, but this also introduced problems
|
||||||
when one project used one version of a dependency and another project used
|
when one project used one version of a dependency and another project used
|
||||||
another in ways that were mutually incompatible.
|
another in ways that were mutually incompatible.
|
||||||
|
* The process to get the newest version of a dependency was to grab the latest
|
||||||
The process to get the newest version of a dependency was to grab the latest
|
commit off of the default branch of that git repo. There was support for SVN,
|
||||||
commit off of the default branch of that git repo. There was support for SVN,
|
mercurial and fossil, but in practice Git was the most used one so it’s almost
|
||||||
mercurial and fossil, but in practice Git was the most used one so it’s almost
|
not worth mentioning the other version control systems. This also left you at
|
||||||
not worth mentioning the other version control systems. This also left you at
|
the mercy of other random people having good code security sense and required
|
||||||
the mercy of other random people having good code security sense and required
|
you to audit your dependencies, but this is fairly standard across ecosystems.
|
||||||
you to audit your dependencies, but this is fairly standard across ecosystems.
|
* Dependency names were case sensitive on Linux but not on Windows or macOS.
|
||||||
|
Arguably this is a "Windows and macOS are broken for backwards compatibility
|
||||||
Dependency names were case sensitive on Linux but not on Windows or macOS.
|
reasons" thing, but this did bite me at random times without warning.
|
||||||
Arguably this is a "Windows and macOS are broken for backwards compatibility
|
* If the wrong random people deleted their GitHub repos, there's a chance your
|
||||||
reasons" thing, but this did bite me at random times without warning.
|
builds could break unless your GOPATH had the packages in it already. Then you
|
||||||
|
could share that with your coworkers or the build machine somehow, maybe even
|
||||||
The default location for the GOPATH created a folder in your home directory.
|
upload those packages to a git repository to soft-fork it.
|
||||||
|
* The default location for the GOPATH created a folder in your home directory.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">Yeah, yeah, this default was added later
|
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">Yeah, yeah, this default was added later
|
||||||
but still people complained about having to put the GOPATH somewhere at first.
|
but still people complained about having to put the GOPATH somewhere at first.
|
||||||
|
@ -125,11 +155,6 @@ the defaults without having to set an environment variable). I don't personally
|
||||||
understand the arguments people have for wanting to keep their home directory
|
understand the arguments people have for wanting to keep their home directory
|
||||||
"clean", but the arguments are valid regardless.</xeblog-conv>
|
"clean", but the arguments are valid regardless.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
If the wrong random people deleted their GitHub repos, there's a chance your
|
|
||||||
builds could break unless your GOPATH had the packages in it already. Then you
|
|
||||||
could share that with your coworkers or the build machine somehow, maybe even
|
|
||||||
uploading those packages to a git repository to soft-fork it.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Overall I think GOPATH was a net good thing for Go. It had its downsides, but as
|
Overall I think GOPATH was a net good thing for Go. It had its downsides, but as
|
||||||
far as these things go it was a very opinionated place to start from. This is
|
far as these things go it was a very opinionated place to start from. This is
|
||||||
something typical to Go (much to people's arguments), but the main thing that it
|
something typical to Go (much to people's arguments), but the main thing that it
|
||||||
|
@ -140,6 +165,8 @@ languages could learn a lot from. It's great for monorepos because it basically
|
||||||
treats all your Go code as one big monorepo. So many other languages don’t
|
treats all your Go code as one big monorepo. So many other languages don’t
|
||||||
really translate well to working in a monorepo context like Go does.
|
really translate well to working in a monorepo context like Go does.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Vendoring
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
That making sure everyone had the same versions of everything problem ended up
|
That making sure everyone had the same versions of everything problem ended up
|
||||||
becoming a big problem in practice. I'm assuming that the original intent of the
|
becoming a big problem in practice. I'm assuming that the original intent of the
|
||||||
GOPATH was to be similar to how Google's internal monorepo worked, where
|
GOPATH was to be similar to how Google's internal monorepo worked, where
|
||||||
|
@ -190,7 +217,10 @@ needs of the outside world very easily.
|
||||||
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="enby">I can't speak for how `godep` or `glide`
|
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="enby">I can't speak for how `godep` or `glide`
|
||||||
works, I never really used them enough to have a solid opinion. I do remember
|
works, I never really used them enough to have a solid opinion. I do remember
|
||||||
using [`vendor`](https://github.com/bmizerany/vendor) in my own projects though.
|
using [`vendor`](https://github.com/bmizerany/vendor) in my own projects though.
|
||||||
That had no real dependency resolution algorithm to speak of.</xeblog-conv>
|
That had no real dependency resolution algorithm to speak of because it assumed
|
||||||
|
that you had everything working locally when you vendored the code.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### `dep`
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After a while the Go team worked with people in the community to come up with an
|
After a while the Go team worked with people in the community to come up with an
|
||||||
"official experiment" in tracking dependencies called `dep`. `dep` was a tool
|
"official experiment" in tracking dependencies called `dep`. `dep` was a tool
|
||||||
|
@ -223,14 +253,27 @@ repositories. I don't think I practically ran into this, but I'm sure someone
|
||||||
reading this right now found themselves in `dep` hell and probably has a hell of
|
reading this right now found themselves in `dep` hell and probably has a hell of
|
||||||
a war story around it.
|
a war story around it.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### vgo and Modules
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
This lead the Go team to come up with a middle path between the unrestricted
|
This lead the Go team to come up with a middle path between the unrestricted
|
||||||
madness of GOPATH and something more maximal like `dep`. They eventually called
|
madness of GOPATH and something more maximal like `dep`. They eventually called
|
||||||
this Go modules and the core reasons for it are outlined in [this series of
|
this Go modules and the core reasons for it are outlined in [this series of
|
||||||
technical posts](https://research.swtch.com/vgo). Apparently the development of
|
technical posts](https://research.swtch.com/vgo).
|
||||||
Go modules came out as a complete surprise, even to the core developer team of
|
|
||||||
`dep`. I'm fairly sure this lead my manager to take up woodworking as his main
|
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="hacker">These posts are a very good read and I'd
|
||||||
non work side hobby, I can only wonder about the kind of resentment this created
|
highly suggest reading them if you've never seem then before. It outlines the
|
||||||
for other parts of the `dep` team.
|
problem space and the justification for the choices that Go modules ended up
|
||||||
|
using. I don't agree with all of what is said there, but overall it's well
|
||||||
|
worth reading at least once if you want to get an idea of the inspirations
|
||||||
|
that lead to Go modules.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Apparently the development of Go modules came out as a complete surprise,
|
||||||
|
even to the core developer team of `dep`. I'm fairly sure this lead my
|
||||||
|
manager to take up woodworking as his main non work side hobby, I can only
|
||||||
|
wonder about the kind of resentment this created for other parts of the
|
||||||
|
`dep` team. They were under the impression that `dep` was going to be the
|
||||||
|
future of the ecosystem (likely under the subcommand `go dep`) and then had
|
||||||
|
the rug pulled out from under their feet.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">The `dep` team was as close as we've
|
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">The `dep` team was as close as we've
|
||||||
gotten for having people in the _actual industry_ using Go _in production_
|
gotten for having people in the _actual industry_ using Go _in production_
|
||||||
|
@ -258,14 +301,22 @@ disadvantages out of the gate with Go modules. I think that in practice the
|
||||||
disadvantages are limited, but still the fact that it defaults to phoning home
|
disadvantages are limited, but still the fact that it defaults to phoning home
|
||||||
to Google every time you run a Go build without all the dependencies present
|
to Google every time you run a Go build without all the dependencies present
|
||||||
locally is kind of questionable. They did make up for this with the checksum
|
locally is kind of questionable. They did make up for this with the checksum
|
||||||
verification database a little, but it's still kinda sus.</xeblog-conv>
|
verification database a little, but it's still kinda sus.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I'm not aware of any companies I've worked at running their own internal Go
|
||||||
|
module caching servers, but I ran my own for a very long time.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The earliest version of Go modules basically was a glorified `vendor` folder
|
The earliest version of Go modules basically was a glorified `vendor` folder
|
||||||
manager. This worked out amazingly well and probably made prototyping this a
|
manager named `vgo`. This worked out amazingly well and probably made
|
||||||
hell of a lot easier. This worked well enough that we used this in production
|
prototyping this a hell of a lot easier. This worked well enough that we used
|
||||||
for many services at Heroku. We had no real issues with it and most of the
|
this in production for many services at Heroku. We had no real issues with it
|
||||||
friction was with the fact that most of the existing ecosystem had already been
|
and most of the friction was with the fact that most of the existing ecosystem
|
||||||
using `dep` or `glide`.
|
had already been using `dep` or `glide`.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="Hacker">There was a bit of interoperability glue
|
||||||
|
that allowed `vgo` to parse the dependency definitions in `dep`, `godep` and
|
||||||
|
`glide`. This still exists today and helps `go mod init` tell what dependencies
|
||||||
|
to import into the Go module to aid migration.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
If they had shipped this in prod, it probably would have been a huge success. It
|
If they had shipped this in prod, it probably would have been a huge success. It
|
||||||
would also let people continue to use `dep`, `glide` and `godep`, but just doing
|
would also let people continue to use `dep`, `glide` and `godep`, but just doing
|
||||||
|
@ -281,6 +332,8 @@ encode the capital letters in a path in a way that works on macOS and Windows
|
||||||
without having to worry about horrifying hacks that are only really in place for
|
without having to worry about horrifying hacks that are only really in place for
|
||||||
Photoshop to keep working.
|
Photoshop to keep working.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Subtle Problem of `v2`
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
However one of the bigger downsides that came with Go modules is what I've been
|
However one of the bigger downsides that came with Go modules is what I've been
|
||||||
calling the "v2 landmine" that Semantic Import Versioning gives you. One of the
|
calling the "v2 landmine" that Semantic Import Versioning gives you. One of the
|
||||||
very earliest bits of Go advice was to make the import paths for version 1 of a
|
very earliest bits of Go advice was to make the import paths for version 1 of a
|
||||||
|
@ -317,10 +370,20 @@ team claims that the right bit of tooling can help ease the pain, but this
|
||||||
tooling never really made it out into the public. I bet it works great inside
|
tooling never really made it out into the public. I bet it works great inside
|
||||||
google3 though!</xeblog-conv>
|
google3 though!</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When you were upgrading a Go project that already hit major version 2 or
|
||||||
|
higher to Go modules, adopting Go modules forced maintainers to make another
|
||||||
|
major version bump because it would break all of the import paths for every
|
||||||
|
package in the module. This caused some maintainers to meet Go modules with
|
||||||
|
resistance to avoid confusing their consumers. The workarounds for people that
|
||||||
|
still used GOPATH using upstream code with Semantic Import Versioning in it
|
||||||
|
were also kind of annoying at first until the Go team added "minimal module
|
||||||
|
awareness" to GOPATH mode. Then it was fine.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Overall though, Go modules has been a net positive for the community and for
|
Overall though, Go modules has been a net positive for the community and for
|
||||||
people wanting to create reliable software in Go. It’s just such a big semantic
|
people wanting to create reliable software in Go. It’s just such a big semantic
|
||||||
break in how the toolchain works that I almost think it would have been easier
|
break in how the toolchain works that I almost think it would have been easier
|
||||||
to accept if _that_ was Go 2.
|
for the to accept if _that_ was Go 2. Especially since the semantic of how the
|
||||||
|
toolchain worked changed so much.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="hmm">Wait, doesn’t the Go compiler have a
|
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="hmm">Wait, doesn’t the Go compiler have a
|
||||||
backwards compatibility promise that any code built with Go 1.x works on go
|
backwards compatibility promise that any code built with Go 1.x works on go
|
||||||
|
@ -337,7 +400,8 @@ users](https://github.com/golang/go/issues/40276#issuecomment-1109797059) that
|
||||||
aren’t keeping on top of every single change in semantics of toolchains (this
|
aren’t keeping on top of every single change in semantics of toolchains (this
|
||||||
bites me constantly when I need to quick and dirty grab something outside of a
|
bites me constantly when I need to quick and dirty grab something outside of a
|
||||||
Nix package). I understand _why_ this isn’t a breaking change as far as the
|
Nix package). I understand _why_ this isn’t a breaking change as far as the
|
||||||
compatibility promise but this feels like a cop-out.</xeblog-conv>
|
compatibility promise but this feels like a cop-out in my subjective
|
||||||
|
opinion.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Contexts
|
## Contexts
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
@ -345,41 +409,132 @@ One of Go’s major features is its co-operative threading system that it calls
|
||||||
goroutines. Goroutines are kinda like coroutines that are scheduled by the
|
goroutines. Goroutines are kinda like coroutines that are scheduled by the
|
||||||
scheduler. However there is no easy way to "kill" a goroutine. You have to add
|
scheduler. However there is no easy way to "kill" a goroutine. You have to add
|
||||||
something to the invocation of the goroutine that lets you signal it to stop and
|
something to the invocation of the goroutine that lets you signal it to stop and
|
||||||
then opt-in the goroutine to stop. This ended up leading to the
|
then opt-in the goroutine to stop.
|
||||||
[context](https://pkg.go.dev/context) package being created in the standard
|
|
||||||
|
Without contexts you would need to do all of this legwork manually. Every
|
||||||
|
project from the time before contexts still shows signs of this. The best
|
||||||
|
practice was to make a "stop" channel like this:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```go
|
||||||
|
stop := make(chan struct{})
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
And then you'd send a cancellation signal like this:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```go
|
||||||
|
stop <- struct{}{}
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="Hacker">The type `struct{}` is an anonymous
|
||||||
|
structure value that takes 0 bytes in ram. It was suggested to use this as your
|
||||||
|
stopping signal to avoid unneeded memory allocations.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This did work and was the heart of many event loops, but the main problem with
|
||||||
|
it is that the signal was only sent _once_. Many other people also followed up
|
||||||
|
the stop signal by closing the channel:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```go
|
||||||
|
close(stop)
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
However with naïve stopping logic the closed channel would successfully fire a
|
||||||
|
zero value of the event. So code like this would still work the way you wanted:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```go
|
||||||
|
select {
|
||||||
|
case <- stop:
|
||||||
|
haltAndCatchFire()
|
||||||
|
}
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
However if your stop channel was a `chan bool` and you relied on the `bool`
|
||||||
|
value being `true`, this would fail because the value would be `false`. This
|
||||||
|
was a bit too brittle for comfortable widespread production use and we ended
|
||||||
|
up with the [context](https://pkg.go.dev/context) package in the standard
|
||||||
library. A Go context lets you more easily and uniformly handle timeouts and
|
library. A Go context lets you more easily and uniformly handle timeouts and
|
||||||
giving up when there is no more work to be done.
|
giving up when there is no more work to be done.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Mara+hacker\ This started as something that existed inside the Google monorepo
|
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="hacker">This started as something that existed
|
||||||
that escaped out into the world. They also claim to have an internal tool that
|
inside the Google monorepo that escaped out into the world. They also claim to
|
||||||
makes [`context.TODO()`](https://pkg.go.dev/context#TODO) useful (probably by
|
have an internal tool that makes
|
||||||
showing you the callsities above that function?), but they never released that
|
[`context.TODO()`](https://pkg.go.dev/context#TODO) useful (probably by showing
|
||||||
tool as open source so it’s difficult to know where to use it without that added
|
you the callsities above that function?), but they never released that tool as
|
||||||
context.
|
open source so it’s difficult to know where to use it without that added
|
||||||
|
context.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
- [ ] Examples of how to thread them in:
|
One of the most basic examples of using contexts comes when you are trying to
|
||||||
- [ ] Basic example using a select statement and a timer to poll the context
|
stop something from continuing. If you have something that constantly writes
|
||||||
timeout vs the timer (let’s pretend the timer is some important but
|
data to clients such as a pub-sub queue, you probably want to stop writing data
|
||||||
cancellable event that takes time to process)
|
to them when the client disconnects. If you have a large number of HTTP requests
|
||||||
- [ ] HTTP request
|
to do and only so many workers can make outstanding requests at once, you
|
||||||
- [ ] Handling a control-C signal and cancelling a bunch of HTTP request
|
want to be able to set a timeout so that after a certain amount of time it gives
|
||||||
|
up.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Here's an example of using a context in an event processing loop (of course while
|
||||||
|
pretending that fetching the current time is anything else that isn't a contrived
|
||||||
|
example to show this concept off):
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```go
|
||||||
|
t := time.NewTicker(30 * time.Second)
|
||||||
|
ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
|
||||||
|
defer cancel()
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
for {
|
||||||
|
select {
|
||||||
|
case <- ctx.Done():
|
||||||
|
log.Printf("not doing anything more: %v", ctx.Err())
|
||||||
|
return
|
||||||
|
case data := <- t.C:
|
||||||
|
log.Printf("got data: %s", data)
|
||||||
|
}
|
||||||
|
}
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This will have the Go runtime select between two channels, one of them will
|
||||||
|
emit the current time every 30 seconds and the other will fire when the
|
||||||
|
`cancel` function is called.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="happy">Don't worry, you can call the `cancel()`
|
||||||
|
function multiple times without any issues.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
If you want to set a timeout on this (so that the function only tries to run
|
||||||
|
for 5 minutes), you'd want to change the second line of that example to this:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```go
|
||||||
|
ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5 * time.Minute)
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The context will be automatically cancelled after 5 minutes. You can cancel it
|
||||||
|
sooner by calling the `cancel()` function should you need to. Anything else in
|
||||||
|
the stack that is context-aware will automatically cancel as well as the
|
||||||
|
cancellation signal percolates down the stack and across goroutines.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
You can attach this to an HTTP request by using
|
||||||
|
[`http.NewRequestWithContext`](https://pkg.go.dev/net/http#NewRequestWithContext):
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```go
|
||||||
|
req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, "https://christine.website/.within/health", nil)
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
And then when you execute the request (such as with `http.DefaultClient.Do(req)`)
|
||||||
|
the context will automatically be cancelled if it takes too long to fetch the
|
||||||
|
response.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
You can also wire this up to the `Control-c` signal using a bit of code
|
||||||
|
[like this](https://medium.com/@matryer/make-ctrl-c-cancel-the-context-context-bd006a8ad6ff).
|
||||||
|
Context cancellation propagates upwards, so you can use this to ensure that things
|
||||||
|
get stopped properly.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="hacker">Be sure to avoid creating a "god context"
|
||||||
|
across your entire app. This is a known anti-pattern and this pattern should only
|
||||||
|
be used for small command line tools that have an expected run time in the minutes
|
||||||
|
at worst, not hours like production bearing services.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
This is a huge benefit to the language because of how disjointed the process of
|
This is a huge benefit to the language because of how disjointed the process of
|
||||||
doing this before contexts was. Trying to do this before contexts usually made
|
doing this before contexts was. Because this wasn’t in the core of the language,
|
||||||
you create a "stop channel" where you’d feed it a `bool` or a `struct{}{}` to
|
every single implementation was different and required learning what the library
|
||||||
signal that the other side doesn't need to care anymore. Because this wasn’t in
|
did. Not to mention adapting between libraries could be brittle at best and
|
||||||
the core of the language, every single implementation was different and required
|
confusing at worst.
|
||||||
learning what the library did.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
However I wish that the documentation was a bit more clear as to what they
|
|
||||||
really offer and had some more examples of how to use them. Without context as
|
|
||||||
to what contexts do, its documentation can kind of read [like
|
|
||||||
this](https://christine.website/blog/vanbi-01-08-2019). This can make explaining
|
|
||||||
what a context is to people kind of annoying.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="hacker">If you know Lojban, some of the satire in
|
|
||||||
vanbi may be lost on you. Just pretend you don’t understand any of the words in
|
|
||||||
there.</xeblog-conv>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
I understand why they put data into the context type, but in practice I really
|
I understand why they put data into the context type, but in practice I really
|
||||||
wish they didn’t do that. This feature has been abused a lot in my experience.
|
wish they didn’t do that. This feature has been abused a lot in my experience.
|
||||||
|
@ -390,7 +545,8 @@ that would normally be compile time errors into runtime errors.
|
||||||
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">I say this as someone who maintains a
|
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">I say this as someone who maintains a
|
||||||
library that uses contexts to store [contextually relevant log
|
library that uses contexts to store [contextually relevant log
|
||||||
fields](https://pkg.go.dev/within.website/ln) as a way to make logs easier to
|
fields](https://pkg.go.dev/within.website/ln) as a way to make logs easier to
|
||||||
correlate between.
Arguably you could make the case that people are misusing the
|
correlate between.
|
||||||
|
Arguably you could make the case that people are misusing the
|
||||||
tool and of course this is what will happen when you do that but I don't know if
|
tool and of course this is what will happen when you do that but I don't know if
|
||||||
this is really the right thing to tell people.</xeblog-conv>
|
this is really the right thing to tell people.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
@ -398,7 +554,19 @@ I wish contexts were in the core of the language from the beginning. I know that
|
||||||
it is difficult to do this in practice (especially on all the targets that Go
|
it is difficult to do this in practice (especially on all the targets that Go
|
||||||
supports), but having cancellable syscalls would be so cool. It would also be
|
supports), but having cancellable syscalls would be so cool. It would also be
|
||||||
really neat if contexts could be goroutine-level globals so you didn’t have to
|
really neat if contexts could be goroutine-level globals so you didn’t have to
|
||||||
“pollute” the callsites of every function with them.
|
"pollute" the callsites of every function with them.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">At the time contexts were introduced,
|
||||||
|
one of the major arguments I remember hearing against them was that contexts
|
||||||
|
"polluted" their function definitions and callsites. I can't disagree with this
|
||||||
|
sentiment, at some level it really does look like contexts propagate "virally"
|
||||||
|
throughout a codebase.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I think that the net improvements to reliability and understandability of how
|
||||||
|
things get stopped do make up for this though. Instead of a bunch of separate
|
||||||
|
ways to cancel work in each individual library you have the best practice in
|
||||||
|
the standard library. Having contexts around makes it a lot harder to "leak"
|
||||||
|
goroutines on accident.</xeblog-conv>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Generics
|
## Generics
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
Loading…
Reference in New Issue