Writing Go

Go Development (1.25+)

Core Principles

• Stdlib first: External deps only when justified
• Concrete types: Define interfaces at consumer, return structs
• Composition: Over inheritance, always
• Fail fast: Clear errors with context
• Simple: The obvious solution is usually correct

Quick Patterns

Error Handling

if err := doThing(); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("do thing: %w", err)
}

Struct with Options

type Server struct {
    addr    string
    timeout time.Duration
}

func NewServer(addr string, opts ...Option) *Server {
    s := &Server{addr: addr, timeout: 30 * time.Second}
    for _, opt := range opts {
        opt(s)
    }
    return s
}

Table-Driven Tests

tests := []struct {
    name    string
    input   string
    want    string
    wantErr bool
}{
    {"valid", "hello", "HELLO", false},
    {"empty", "", "", true},
}
for _, tt := range tests {
    t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
        got, err := Process(tt.input)
        if tt.wantErr {
            require.Error(t, err)
            return
        }
        require.NoError(t, err)
        assert.Equal(t, tt.want, got)
    })
}

Go 1.25 Features

• testing/synctest: Deterministic concurrent testing with simulated clock
• encoding/json/v2: Experimental, 3-10x faster (GOEXPERIMENT=jsonv2)
• runtime/trace.FlightRecorder: Production trace capture on-demand
• Container-aware GOMAXPROCS: Auto-detects cgroup limits
• GreenTea GC: Experimental, lower latency (GOEXPERIMENT=greenteagc)

References

• PATTERNS.md - Detailed code patterns
• TESTING.md - Testing strategies with testify/mockery
• CLI.md - CLI application patterns

Tooling

go build ./...           # Build
go test -race ./...      # Test with race detector
golangci-lint run        # Lint
mockery --all            # Generate mocks

Gotchas

• nil channel sends/receives block forever; closed channel receives return zero value immediately — select with a nil channel case disables that case, useful pattern but easy to do accidentally.
• defer captures arguments at the call site, not at execution — defer fmt.Println(time.Now()) captures NOW, not the deferred time.
• Pre-Go 1.22 for-loop variable capture closures over ONE variable across all iterations — the goroutine-in-loop bug. Go 1.22 changed semantics; old habits create subtle bugs in mixed-version code.
• errors.Is walks Unwrap() chains, BUT if a wrapped error implements Is(target error) bool itself, that custom Is wins over walking — confusing when migrating from xerrors.
• sync.Pool items can be GC'd between Get and the next Put — never rely on a Pool to retain state.