The document discusses whether Go (Golang) qualifies as an object-oriented programming language, stating that it is both yes and no. It outlines how Go uses structures instead of classes, implements encapsulation through packages, relies on composition instead of inheritance, and achieves polymorphism via interfaces. Ultimately, it argues that while Go is not a traditional OOP language, it incorporates essential OOP features into its design.

1. How Golang Is
An Object-
Oriented
Language?
www.bacancytechnology.com

2. Naive Goffers often ask if Go is an Object-
oriented programming language? The answer
to the above question is both Yes and No. The
concept of object-oriented programming is to
keep the data and logic separate. The first
OOP language was Simula in the 1960s, which
brought the ideas of class, objects,
inheritance, subclass, and much more.
You might not be aware of Simula but have
surely heard of inspired languages like Java,
C++, etc., which emerged the modern
languages like Perl, Python, Objective C,
Scala, Javascript, PHP, and more.

3. [Source: Google Images]
Google’s Go is an entirely new and refreshing
programming language that merges the old and
new concepts. The Golang programming language
is a powerful language that can write anything from
simple utilities to building flexible and scalable web
servers. It does not use classes, but you can attain
the object-oriented programming styles using Go.
One can consider Golang as an advanced object-
oriented programming language, that is
lightweight, and which borrows its structure from
Pascal/Algol/Modula language.

4. Golang Vs. Other
Programming
Languages

5. Golang does not have Classes, Objects,
Templates, and Exceptions
It has in-built concurrency and supports
garbage-collection
There is no type-hierarchy in Go
The big difference between all other advanced
programming languages and Go:
Let us see how OOP is attainable with the Go
programming language. We will relate the
traditional OOP concept with that identifiable in
Golang.

6. Abstraction (Object)
— Struct (User
Defined Types)

7. [Source: The Valuable Dev]
Abstraction is the hiding of complexities and easing
the work function. In object-oriented programming,
Classes enable abstraction. An object, which is an
instance of a class, stores the types of variables and
methods for a particular task.
You don’t find objects of classes in Golang, but you
are still able to build user-defined types in memory,
using structures (struct). You can create native
types of fields like those in real-world or even
abstract things like requests, car, loan, table, etc.

8. Go struct, for your reference, is similar to C struct
rather than C++ class. Let us see an example of a
Golang named structure:
[Source: Golangbot.com]

9. In the above example code, we have a struct with
named Employee, which stores an employee’s first
name, age, salary, and last-name.
Hence, for the programmers coming from the OO
background, working with the Golang language is
going to be very easy as it has a perfect balance
between object-oriented and procedural features.

10. Encapsulation —
Packages

11. [Source: Stackify]
Encapsulation, also known as Information hiding in
OO concepts, is represented in Go using Packages.
Encapsulation is the bundling of data and methods
into one unit (class), which is accessible from the
public main method using setter and getter
methods.
However, Go language doesn’t entertain access
modifiers like public, private, etc, but differentiates
between them by first letter casing. So uppercase is
public, and lowercase is private.
You can access a private symbol inside the package
and a public symbol outside its package too. Here is
an example of a package in Golang.

12. [Source: GitHub]
Packages in Go follow the initialization of imported
packages, level variables, and init() functions.

13. Inheritance —
Composition

14. Source: TowardsDataScience]
One of OOP’s core concepts is Inheritance, where
you can set up a hierarchy and derive a class from
another class that inherits its properties, attributes,
and methods. Well, Golang doesn’t support
inheritance, which is an “is-a relationship model”
and rather substitutes composition over
inheritance.
Using Composition in Go, you can embed nameless
structs within other structs, and you can directly
access the embedded struct via promotion. Let us
see how:

15. [Source: GitHub]
From the above example, you can see that there is
no implicit relation between Manager and
Employee, though you can call Employee methods
using Manager instance

16. Polymorphism —
Interface

17. [Source: WordPress]
The term polymorphism means varying behavior,
and in the context of Object-oriented programing,
different types of objects can be accessed through
the same interface. A similar concept applies to Go
using Interfaces
It is not mandatory to explicitly implement an
interface, define the method, and implicitly
implement the interface. Here is an example to
show interfaces in Go language:

18. [Source: GitHub]
In this manner, interfaces help us attain
polymorphism even when it declares only one single
method.

19. Conclusion
We conclude by saying that though Go is not meant
to be an Object-oriented programming language, it
is an advanced programming language that attains
all the essential features of OOP. Bjarne Stroustrup,
a Danish Computer scientist, says, “Anybody who
comes to you and says he has a perfect language, is
either naive or a salesman”. There is no perfect
programming language, it’s upon you to choose the
ideal programming language for your upcoming
project.
[Source: Google Images]

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21. Thank You