147 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
147 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Getting Started with Go
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date: 2015-01-28
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series: howto
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---
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Go is an exciting language made by Google for systems programming. This article
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will help you get up and running with the Go compiler tools.
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System Setup
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------------
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First you need to install the compilers.
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```console
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$ sudo apt-get install golang golang-go.tools
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```
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`golang-go.tools` contains some useful tools that aren't part of the standard
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Go distribution.
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Shell Setup
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-----------
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Create a folder in your home directory for your Go code to live in. I use
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`~/go`.
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```console
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$ mkdir -p ~/go/{bin,pkg,src}
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```
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`bin` contains go binaries that are created from `go get` or `go install`.
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`pkg` contains static (`.a`) compiled versions of go packages that are not go
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programs. `src` contains go source code.
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After you create this, add
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[this](https://github.com/Xe/dotfiles/blob/master/.zsh/go-completion.zsh) and
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the following to your zsh config:
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```sh
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export GOPATH=$HOME/go
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export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin
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```
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This will add the go compilers to your `$PATH` as well as programs you install.
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Rehash your shell config (I use
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a [`resource`](https://github.com/Xe/dotfiles/blob/master/.zsh/resource.zsh#L3)
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command for this) and then run:
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```console
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$ go env
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GOARCH="amd64"
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GOBIN=""
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GOCHAR="6"
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GOEXE=""
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GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
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GOHOSTOS="linux"
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GOOS="linux"
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GOPATH="/home/xena/go"
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GORACE=""
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GOROOT="/usr/lib/go"
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GOTOOLDIR="/usr/lib/go/pkg/tool/linux_amd64"
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TERM="dumb"
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CC="gcc"
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GOGCCFLAGS="-g -O2 -fPIC -m64 -pthread"
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CXX="g++"
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CGO_ENABLED="1"
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```
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This will verify that the go toolchain knows where the go compilers are as well
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as where your `$GOPATH` is.
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Testing
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-------
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To test the go compilers with a simple
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[todo command](http://github.com/mattn/todo), run this:
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```console
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$ go get github.com/mattn/todo
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$ todo add foo
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$ todo list
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☐ 001: foo
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```
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Vim Setup
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---------
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For Vim integration, I suggest using the
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[vim-go](https://github.com/fatih/vim-go) plugin. This plugin used to be part
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of the standard Go distribution.
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To install:
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1. Add `Plugin 'fatih/vim-go'` to the plugins part of your vimrc.
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2. Run these commands:
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```console
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$ vim +PluginInstall +qall
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$ vim +GoInstallBinaries +qall
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```
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This will install the go oracle and the go autocompletion daemon gocode as well
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as some other useful tools that will integrate seamlessly into vim. This will
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also run `gofmt` on save to style your code to the standard way to write Go
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code.
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Resources
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---------
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[Effective Go](https://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html) and the
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[language spec](https://golang.org/ref/spec) provide a nice overview of the
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syntax.
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The Go [blog](http://blog.golang.org) contains a lot of detailed articles
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covering advanced and simple Go topics.
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[This page](https://golang.org/doc/#articles) has a list of past articles that
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you may find useful.
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The Go standard library is a fantastic collection of Go code for solving many
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problems. In some cases you can even write entire programs using only the
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standard library. This includes things like web application support, tarfile
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support, sql drivers, support for most kinds of commonly used crypto, command
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line flag parsing, html templating, and regular expressions. A full list of
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the standard library packages can be found [here](http://godoc.org/-/go).
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Variable type declarations will look backwards. It takes a bit to get used to
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but makes a lot of sense once you realize it reads better left to right.
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For a nice primer on building web apps with Go, codegangsta is writing a book
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on the common first steps, starting from the standard library and working up.
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You can find his work in progress book
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[here](http://codegangsta.gitbooks.io/building-web-apps-with-go/).
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Go has support for unit testing baked into the core language tools. You can
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find information about writing unit tests [here](http://golang.org/pkg/testing/).
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When creating a new go project, please resist the urge to make the folder in your
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normal code folder. Drink the `$GOPATH` koolaid. Yes it's annoying, yes it's the
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language forcing you to use its standard. Just try it. It's an amazingly useful
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thing once you get used to it.
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Learn to love godoc. Godoc lets you document code like
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[this](https://gist.github.com/Xe/b973e30d81280899955d). This also includes an
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example of the builtin unit testing support.
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