Google created Go because existing systems programming languages did not provide efficient compilation, execution, and ease of programming simultaneously. Go combines the ease of dynamically typed languages with the efficiency and safety of compiled, statically typed languages. It has features for concurrency and garbage collection that improve on C, as well as syntax inspired by Python, JavaScript, and Pascal.

1. An Introduction to Go
Imesh Gunaratne
Product Lead, WSO2 Private PaaS
Committer & PMC Member, Apache Stratos

2. Why Google started Go?
● No major systems language has emerged in over a
decade
● Computers are enormously quicker but software
development is not faster
● C tradition header file based dependency management is
much cleaner and faster in compilation
● Dynamically typed languages such as Python, JS are much
easier to use
● Fundamental concepts such as garbage collection &
parallel computation were not supported well in
popular system languages
https://golang.org/doc/faq

3. Why Google started Go?
● None of the system languages were providing following
three aspects in one:
○ Efficient compilation
○ Efficient execution
○ Ease of programming
● Go is an attempt to combine the ease of programming of
an interpreted, dynamically typed language with the
efficiency and safety of a statically typed, compiled
language.
https://golang.org/doc/faq

4. Go ancestors
● Mostly in the C family (basic syntax)
● Input from Python, JS
● Significant input from Pascal/Modula/Oberon family
(declarations, packages)
● Ideas from CSP style languages Newsqueak, Limbo
(concurrency)
In every respect it’s a new language built by thinking what
programmers do and how to make programming much
efficient and more fun!
https://golang.org/doc/faq

5. Go = C + Python + JS
It’s more like C with Python/JS style syntax

6. What Go provides?
● A systems programming language
● Compiled, directly compile into binary like C
● Binary is platform specific
● Statically typed, but support dynamic declarations
● No virtual machine like in Java
● No exception handling, uses multi-value returns
● No classes, use structs with functions
● Not object oriented, but has support for interfaces, more
like functional programming
● CSP-style concurrent programming
● Provides garbage collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(programming_language)

7. Advantages of Go
● Fast compilation, a large program compiles in seconds
● Type system has no hierarchy, so no time is spent
defining the relationships between types
● Improved dependency analysis compared to C-style
include files
● Fully garbage collected
● Fundamental support for concurrent execution &
communication
● Designed to implement system software to be run on
multi-core machines
https://golang.org/doc/faq

8. Say Hello World in Go
Constructs & Syntax

9. Hello world
https://gobyexample.com/hello-world

10. Standard Constructs
Most common constructs used in other languages

11. Variables
https://gobyexample.com/variables

12. Values
https://gobyexample.com/values

13. Functions
https://gobyexample.com/functions

14. If/Else
https://gobyexample.com/if-else

15. For
https://gobyexample.com/for

16. Switch
https://gobyexample.com/switch

17. Map
https://gobyexample.com/map

18. Variadic functions
https://gobyexample.com/variadic-functions

19. Pointers
https://gobyexample.com/pointers

20. Structs
https://gobyexample.com/structs

21. Go Specific Constructs
Constructs introduced in Go

22. Multiple return values
https://gobyexample.com/multiple-return-values

23. Closures
https://gobyexample.com/closures

24. Range (for each)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7782411/is-there-a-foreach-in-go

25. Slices
https://gobyexample.com/slices

26. Goroutines
https://gobyexample.com/goroutines

27. Channels
https://gobyexample.com/channels

28. References
● Golang FAQ:
https://golang.org/doc/faq
● Go, Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(programming_language)
● Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP), Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicating_sequential_processes
● Static typing, Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_system#Static_typing
● Dynamic programming language, Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_programming_language
● Variadic function, Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variadic_function
● Closure, Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closure_(computer_programming)