Introducing Go: Build Reliable, Scalable Programs

by Caleb Doxsey

Perfect for beginners familiar with programming basics, this hands-on guide provides an easy introduction to Go, the general-purpose programming language from Google. Author Caleb Doxsey covers the language’s core features with step-by-step instructions and exercises in each chapter to help you practice what you learn.

Go is a general-purpose programming language with a clean syntax and advanced features, including concurrency. This book provides the one-on-one support you need to get started with the language, with short, easily digestible chapters that build on one another. By the time you finish this book, not only will you be able to write real Go programs, you'll be ready to tackle advanced techniques.

* Jump into Go basics, including data types, variables, and control structures
* Learn complex types, such as slices, functions, structs, and interfaces
* Explore Go’s core library and learn how to create your own package
* Write tests for your code by using the language’s go test program
* Learn how to run programs concurrently with goroutines and channels
* Get suggestions to help you master the craft of programming

Genres: Programming, Technology, Go, Computer Science, Technical, Coding, Reference

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2016

Reviews

[Kemel Zaidan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book brings a very introductory view of the Go programming language. The problem is that it seems to focus on Go as the first programming language, since it goes from the very first beginning explaining what is a variable a function etc.

This makes the book a little boring if you already know another programming language. It also makes the author to spend too much time with the basics and not much with Go particular features that makes the language stand, which are goroutines and channel. Those parts have a very brief overview and were the ones which deserves more attention.

[Eric Mesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over my many years as a programmer (and now boss of programmers) I've read many of O'Reilly's series - Learning {language}, Programming {language}, {language} in a Nutshell, {language} Pocket Reference. This is the first time (that I can remember) that I've read a book in the "Introducing" series. I'd say this book is great for someone who already knows how to program, but wants to get a feel for the syntax Go uses. That does mean that the early chapters that introduce conditionals and loops are a bit elementary, but I have a hard time feeling that someone who's never programmed before would really get the later chapters with pointers. Each chapter ends with some questions that makes me wonder if this book was developed to be a textbook for an introduction to programming high school or university class. It would certainly work well for a dev who has the support of a teacher and/or TAs.

I breezed through it because I'm planning on using O'Reilly's Head First Go book to truly learn go. It's a lot more comprehensive and I think the Head First philosophy of using visual learning tools will serve my learning style well.

If you want a reference guide this isn't it. But if you want a quick intro to the Go syntax, it's read.

[Matthew Balshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super quick read. Didn't find it that useful except for basic syntax and a few of the concepts. Honestly you'd be better off reading some blog post tutorials and watching a few videos on YouTube.

[Serhat M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introductory book for Go, which can be quickly consumed to get an idea about the language and its concepts.

I wouldn't suggest this book if you have no previous programming experience, it's more like an introduction book for people coming to GoLang from other programming languages.

For an introductory book, some chapters such as HTTP, TCP and PRC were completely unnecessary. These chapters were also quite weak, and the author simply skipped them with snippets with no explanation.

[CaptainKO · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for an introducing book.

[Mathi Fonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're an experienced programmer in other languages, this book is NOT a good resource to start. The approach is for beginners, as it even explains what a variable is for example. If this is the case, the book is a good introduction to the craft (maybe not the first I would read though).
In case you are an experienced programmer and want to get to know Go and its differences with other languages, I recommend a different book, like Go in Action from Manning.

[Tuomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this was a good introduction to the language, its basic concepts and syntax. A nice book to read through relatively quickly to get a general idea. It's not really an introduction to programming, so some familiarity with the topic is recommended. Particularly the more important chapters regarding Go, i.e. interfaces and concurrency, were quite informative and enjoyable to read, but the book never goes very deep on any particular topic. You can think of that as a negative or a positive, but as an introduction it serves its purpose well.

[Tbueno · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an introductory book, this one is ok. I quite like the fact of being able go read a technical book in an afternoon, but that comes with obvious compromises. Don't expect to finish the book and start coding by yourself. The topics are not connected and you will need extra references to build anything real with the language.

[Sai Rahul Poruri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very short book with what is, in my opinion, a very good introduction to the language. I had only heard of the language but never actually seen any code in go. This small book covers the basics very well.

It uses most of the common tropes used by introductory books like printing hello world so overall, the book is very approachable and recommended for any absolute beginner to the language

[Othello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short and precise book on Go. Ideal for the experienced programmer who wants a taste of things in Go. Short exercises with solutions make it immensely useful for the motivated programmer who can complete it in a few days or a week. Once this is done, pick up "The Go Programming Language" for a detailed treatment.

[Kaido · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an introducing book it was quite ok. As with this book and recent programming books, they talk a lot about simple things and in the end when are more harder things only half of the page or less is used to make things clear.

[Andi Dirgantara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference for beginner, as the title stated. Only cover basic understanding to Go language. Straight forward and there are questions by the end of every section, so we can test our understanding by ourself. Recommended, for new comer.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nearly minimalist introduction to Go, in print format. Some of the syntactic sugar feels glossed over, so a close reading is still require for readers previously using dynamically types languages with garbage collection.

[vinayak karigar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serves as a good introduction to the go language.
Pros: it can be read quickly to get the general understanding of the language.
Cons: We need to explore further before being able to write efficient go programs using its advanced features.

[Smartaquarius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before entering the world of go lang this book is must to read. A very small book which can give a tour through basic concepts of go. If a person is already a programmer in other technology then s\he can easily understand this book.

[Thibault · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, but a bit too simple for people experienced with any other programming language. Only got really interesting towards the end.

I suggest reading blog posts and go documentation instead which is roughly the equivalent of this book for experienced programmers.

[Maxim Proskurnia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good one as an introduction to the language. Don't try to expect much from this book. There is only basic explanation of the main concepts which can be an excellent starting point in learning Go.

[John Weis · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the beginner, this is a good introduction to the language. For those with moderate programming experience, it should take an afternoon to work through.

[Arquero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another edition of 'An Introduction to Programming in Go'

[Zhang Zhishan · Rating 3 out of 5]

too simple.

[Ahmad Magdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good to refresh your information about Go, but not that good for beginners because it needs more details and more aspects to cover

[Deny Prasetyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well.. Usual Golang book

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was good with its examples, but it didn't dig deep enough for me into golang when it came to go-routines and channels.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great summary treatment

I wish all programming books were this succinct. I guess that's a tribute to the Go language designers, too. Great stuff.

[Adam B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro, albeit a little light

[Stijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet.

[Mikkel Steen Birkedam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned what I was supposed to I guess.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction

Quickly introduces key concepts but doesn’t get too bogged down in details and leaves that for a later book that you might read about Go.

[Luka Androjna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction, but that is about it.

[Vadim Serdyuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for the start. Slightly outdated information regarding the current go modules approach, but still an excellent one to start with.