This book requires a modern computer with a relatively recent Go version installed, which includes any machine running Mac OS X, macOS, or Linux, as well as familiarity with your operating system, its filesystem, and git(1). Most of the presented code also runs on Microsoft Windows machines without any changes.

As you embark on your journey to mastering Go, I encourage you to experiment, ask questions, and engage with the material actively. The Go programming language offers a refreshing blend of simplicity and power, and I am confident that this book will provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to become a proficient Go developer.

Download the example code files

The code bundle for the book is hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/mactsouk/mGo4th. We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://packt.link/gbp/9781805127147.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. For example: “Mount the downloaded WebStorm-10*.dmg disk image file as another disk in your system”.

A block of code is set as follows:

package main
import "fmt"
func doubleSquare(x int) (int, int) {
    return x * 2, x * x
}

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

fmt.Println("Double of", n, "is", d)
fmt.Println("Square of", n, "is", s)
anF := func(param int) int {
    return param * param
}

Any command line input or output is written as follows:

$ go run namedReturn.go 1 -2
-2 1
-2 1

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or important information. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. For example: “The wordByWord() function uses regular expressions to separate the words found in each line of the input file”.