Getting Started with Go

Building
your first
Go App
1
Go mascot designed by Renée French and copyrighted under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.

@spf13
•Author of Hugo, Cobra, Viper
& More
•Chief Developer Advocate for
MongoDB
•Gopher 2

My Go Story
•I write a medium size blog
•Frustrated with Wordpress performance & maintenance
•Existing Static Site Generators had complicated installations &
were very slow
•Began writing a S.S.G. in Go called Hugo 1.5 years ago
4

Hugo
•Hugo is 2nd fastest growing Static Site Generator
(40-50 * a week on github)
•Hugo is one of the fastest Static Site Generators.
1000x faster than Jekyll
•Easiest Installation of any SSG. Download and run
•2nd most contributors of any Go project (Docker 1st)6

Plan
•Introduce Go Language
•Introduce Tools & Libraries
•Build our application
•Tell the world how awesome we are 8

Ground Rules
•Workshops are hard, everyone works at a
different pace
•We will move on when about 50% are ready
•Slides are online, feel free to work ahead or
catch up 9

http://
spf13.com/
presentation/
first-go-app/
10

Installing Go
•You should already have Go installed
•If you don’t, do it NOW
•Installation Guide
11

Installing MongoDB
•You should already have MongoDB installed
•If you don’t, do it NOW
•Installation Guide
12

Git & Mercurial
•Lastly we need Git & Mercurial
•http://git-scm.com/downloads
•http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/Download
13

Why Another Language?
• Software is slow
• Sofware is hard to write
• Software doesn’t scale well
15

Go is Fast
• Go execution speed is close to C
• Go compile time rivals dynamic
interpretation
16

Go is Friendly
• Feels like a dynamic language in many ways
• Very small core language, easy to remember all of
it
• Single binary installation, no dependencies
• Extensive Tooling & StdLib 17

Go is Concurrent
• Concurrency is part of the language
• Any function can become a goroutine
• Goroutines run concurrently, communicate through
channels
• Select waits for communication on any of a set of
channels 18

Go’s Inspiration
•C: statement and expression syntax
•Pascal: declaration syntax
•Modula 2, Oberon 2: packages
•CSP, Occam, Newsqueak, Limbo, Alef: concurrency
•BCPL: the semicolon rule
•Smalltalk: methods
•Newsqueak: <-, :=
•APL: iota
19
… AND lessons good and bad from all those plus:
C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, LISP, Python, Scala, ...

— txxxxd
“Most of the appeal
for me is not the
features that Go has,
but rather the
features that have
been intentionally left
out.”
20

— Rob Pike
“Why would you have
a language that is
not theoretically
exciting? Because it’s
very useful.”
21

package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
fmt.Println(“Hello, 世界")
}
Hello World
22

Package
•Not classes or objects
•No subpackages
•Fundamental building block in Go
•Visibility is package-level, not type-level
•Programs run “main” package 23
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
fmt.Println("Hello, 世界")
}

import
•Provides access to a package
•Package consists of types, functions, etc…
•No circular dependencies
24
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

“fmt"
•Package path is just  
a string
•Standard library sits at the root (no path)
•Core language is very small
•Most functionality is in Stdlibs
25
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

func
•Declaring a function
•Same syntax for methods, anonymous functions
& closures
•main.main() is the function run when the
program is executed
26
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

Main
•No void
•No return value
•No function args  
(command line is in os package)
27
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

{ }
•Braces not spaces
•Feels like C ( & most languages )
•Newline must be after brace  
(semicolons are inserted during compiliation)
28
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

fmt
•Accessing the package  
imported above
•Everything visible in the package will be
accessible through the name (or alias if
provided)
29
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

Println
• Println, not println
• Println, not print_ln
•Capital for export
•Variadic function using reflection
30
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

“Hello, 世界”
•UTF-8 input source
•Strings are immutable
•Strings are UTF-8 encoded
•String is a built-in type
31
package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
}

Rob Pike did it better
http://confreaks.com/videos/3419-
gophercon2014-opening-day-keynote
32

Tons more…
•types
•constants
•methods
•interfaces
•pointers
•control flow
•conditionals
•tools
•packages
•concurrency 33

Lets write
some code
!
Introduce the
go tools 35

package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
fmt.Println("Hello,World")
}
Hello World
36
hello.go

❯ go run hello.go 
 
Hello,World
Go Run
37

❯ go build hello.go
!
❯ls -lh 
1.7M Jun 17 22:44 hello 
72B Jun 17 22:43 hello.go
!
❯ ./hello 
Hello, World
Go Build
38

Go Fmt
•Automatically formats Go source code
•Ends stylistic debates
•Integration with editors (vim, emacs, others)
•Can also refactor code  
(see http://spf13.com/post/go-fmt ) 39

go Test
•Enables easy testing of application
•Integrates with the testing package
•Supports benchmark, functional & unit style
testing
•Combine with ‘looper’ to have realtime feedback 40

package main
!
import "testing"
!
func TestOne(t *testing.T) {
one := false
if !one {
t.Errorf(“Test Failed”)
}
}
Hello Test
41
hello_test.go

❯ go test ./...
--- FAIL: TestOne (0.00 seconds)
hello_test.go:8: Test failed
FAIL
FAIL_/Code/firstApp0.012s
!
!
❯ go test ./...
ok _/Code/firstApp0.012s
Go Test
42

Go
Planet
43The planet logo is based on the Go mascot designed by
Renée French and copyrighted under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.

Why Planet?
•CLI application
•Web application
•Good
introduction
•Right sized
•Database
(MongoDB)
•Concurrency 45

Steps
0. Env Setup
1. Commands
2. Configuration
3. Working with Feeds
4. DB as Storage
5-6. Web Server
7-8. DB -> Templates
9. & 10. Add Polish 46

Step 0
 
Setting up our
environment
47

Go path
•The GOPATH environment variable specifies
the location of your workspace (and
dependencies)
•It must not be the same path as your Go
installation
49

❯ mkdir $HOME/go 
!
❯ export  
GOPATH=$HOME/go
Setting up
50

export GOPATH=$USER/go
export GOROOT=`go env GOROOT`
PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin
Linux & Mac
51
Add this to your ~/.bashrc (or equivalent)

Windows
•Control panel > System
52

Go PAth
•/home/user/gocode/ ($GOPATH)
• src/ (put your source code here)
• bin/ (binaries installed here)
• pkg/ (installed package objects)
53

Project Dir
•Make a directory inside of $GOPATH/src
•I like mine to be in  
$GOPATH/src/github.com/spf13/PROJECTNAME
•It can not be a symlink
•We will call this our working directory or $wd 55

package main
!
import "fmt"
!
func main() {
fmt.Println(“My Project")
}
main.go
56

❯ go run main.go 
 
My Project
Run it
57

58
I’m on the #gopath with @spf13 at #OSCON 
http://j.mp/onGoPath
Tweet Break

Step 1
 
Creating the
Command(s)
59

Defining  
our first
command
60

Structs
•Short for structure
•Objectish … blend of data & methods, but no
inheritance
•Really cheap. Struct{} is free (0 bytes).
61

Functions
•Can have multiple return values
•No overloading
•No optional parameters (but variadic)
62

First class Functions
•Function literals are anonymous functions in Go
•Can assign to a variable or field
•Can use as function parameters or return
values
•Can be created as a goroutine 63

pointers
•Function calls copy arguments into the function
•Pointers reference a location in memory where a value is
stored rather than the value itself
•In Go a pointer is represented using the *
•The & operator gives us the address of a variable
•Go automatically dereferences pointers when using “.” 64

cobra
•A CLI Commander
•Easy management of commands &
flags
•Used by bitbucket, openshift & lots
more
65
http://fav.me/d5gkby7

go get -u  
github.com/spf13/cobra
Getting Cobra
66

❯ mkdir $wd/commands
Commands Dir
67

// Copyright © 2014 Steve Francia <spf@spf13.com>.
//
// Use of this source code is governed by an Apache2
// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
!
package commands
!
import (
"fmt"
"os"
!
"github.com/spf13/cobra"
)
planet.go (1)
68

Path = Url
go get uses it to install
69

var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
Use: "dagobah",
Short: `Dagobah is an awesome planet style RSS
aggregator`,
Long: `Dagobah provides planet style RSS aggregation. It
is inspired by python planet. It has a simple YAML
configuration and provides it's own webserver.`,
Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
fmt.Println("Dagobah runs")
},
}
planet.go (2)
70

executing
cobra’s
command
71

Variable Assignment
•‘:=‘ is the short variable declaration operator 
Declares, creates & assigns simultaneously
while infering type
•Assignment via ‘=‘ requires prior declaration
•var foo int = 10 is the same as foo := 10 72

Error Handling
•Errors are not exceptional. Should be part of the language
•Typically one of the return values
•No exceptions in Go
fd, err := os.Open("test.go") 
if err != nil { 
log.Fatal(err) 
} 73

( Don’t) Panic
•Should rarely be used if ever
•Performs a full stack trace dump for end users
•Use only in the most dire circumstances (like
package can’t find FileSystem)
•Can use ‘recover’, but only inside deferred functions
74

func Execute() {
err := RootCmd.Execute()
if err != nil {
fmt.Println(err)
os.Exit(-1)
}
}
planet.go (3)
75

//
!
package main
!
import "github.com/spf13/firstGoApp-Planet/commands"
!
func main() {
commands.Execute()
}
main.go
76
Make sure to use your path

Dagobah runs
!
❯ go run main.go help
Running it
77

Getting Help
•https://godoc.org/github.com/spf13/cobra
•https://github.com/spf13/firstGoApp-Planet/
tree/step1
78

Creating #CobraCommands with @spf13 at #OSCON
http://j.mp/cobracmd
Tweet Break

Step 2
 
Easy Configuration
80

Package Identifiers
•Export with Capital name
•No automatic getters & setters
•var field … func Field() … func SetField()  
are appropriate names
82

init()
•Each source file can have one (or multiple)
•Niladic function to setup state  
(function without return value)
•Called after all variable declarations in the
package 83

Scoping
•Very granular scoping.
•Variables declared inside { } only survive in that cotrol
structure (for, if, etc)
•The := trap 
if := is used to declare x and x already exists in an
outer scope a new variable x will be created (shadowing)
84

package main
!
import (
"errors"
"fmt"
)
!
var Foo int
!
func Zero() (int, error) {
return 0, errors.New("yo")
}
!
!
func main() {
!
Foo = 10
!
fmt.Println("outer:", Foo) // 10
!
if Foo, err := Zero(); err != nil {
fmt.Println("inner:", Foo) // 0
}
!
fmt.Println("outer again:", Foo) // still 10
}
:= Trap
85http://play.golang.org/p/i4L9Ao1P65

Viper
•A configuration manager
•Easy loading of config files
•Registry for application settings
•Designed to work well with (or without) Cobra
86

go get -u  
github.com/spf13/viper
Getting Viper
87

//
!
package commands
!
import (
"fmt"
"os"
!
"github.com/spf13/viper"
)
planet.go (1)
88

var CfgFile string
!
func init() {
cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig) 
RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&CfgFile, "config", "", "config file (default is
$HOME/dagobah/config.yaml)")
}
!
func initConfig() {
if CfgFile != "" {
viper.SetConfigFile(CfgFile)
}
viper.SetConfigName("config")
viper.AddConfigPath("/etc/dagobah/")
viper.AddConfigPath("$HOME/.dagobah/")
viper.ReadInConfig()
}
planet.go (2)
89

Creating our
config file
90

appname: "Dagobah"
feeds:
- "http://spf13.com/index.xml"
- "http://dave.cheney.net/feed"
- "http://www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/default"
- "http://blog.labix.org/feed"
- "http://blog.golang.org/feed.atom"
!
$HOME/.dagobah/config.yaml
91

var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
Use: "...",
Short: `...`,
Long: `...`,
Run: rootRun,
}
!
func rootRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
fmt.Println(viper.Get("feeds"))
fmt.Println(viper.GetString("appname"))
}
planet.go (3)
93

[http://spf13.com/index.xml http://
dave.cheney.net/feed http://
www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/default
http://blog.labix.org/feed http://
blog.golang.org/feed.atom] 
 
Dagobah
Running it
94

I got bit by the #goviper at #OSCON  
http://j.mp/go-viper
Tweet Break

https://
github.com/spf13/
firstGoApp-
Planet/tree/
step2
96

Step 3
 
Working with Feeds
97

go-pkg-rss
•Fetch Rss and Atom feeds from the internet
•Supports RSS .92, 1.0, 2.0 & Atom 1.0
•Respects TTL, SkipDays, CacheTimeout, etc
in the feeds
101

go get -u  
github.com/jteeuwen/go-
pkg-rss
Getting Go-PKG-RSS
102

import (
"time"
...
)
!
func addCommands() {
RootCmd.AddCommand(fetchCmd)
}
!
func Execute() {
addCommands()
...
}
planet.go
104

//
!
package commands
!
import (
"fmt"
"os"
"time"
!
rss "github.com/jteeuwen/go-pkg-rss"
)
Fetch.Go (1)
105

Creating our
own type
106

Named Types
•Can be any known type (struct, string, int,
slice, a new type you’ve declared, etc)
•Can have methods declared on it
•Not an alias. Explicit type.
107

Slices & arrays
•Array is fixed in length
•Slice can be viewed as a dynamic array (can grow)
•Slice is a view of an array
•Slice is the core data structure in Go for lists
of data 108

type Config struct {
Feeds []string
Port int
}
Fetch.Go (2)
109

Defining the
fetch
command
110

New( )
•new(T) Does 2 things at once:
•Allocates new zeroed value of type T
•Returns a pointer to the new value ( *T)
•Used for all non-reference types
111

Make( )
•Creates slices, maps, and channels only
•These types are special “reference” types
•Makes a initialized (not zeroed) value of type T
•Does not return a pointer
112

Composite Literals
•An expression that creates a new value each time it is
evaluated
•We’ve already used these quite a bit
•Can also be create values of arrays, slices, and maps
•Pseudo Constructor
•eg File{fd: fd, name: name}
113

Constructors
•Not built into Go
•Use Composite Literals when possible
•If initialization is needed use a factory
•Convention is to use New___()
•… or New() when only one type is exported in the package
114

var fetchCmd = &cobra.Command{
Use: "fetch",
Short: "Fetch feeds",
Long: `Dagobah will fetch all feeds listed in the config file.`,
Run: fetchRun 
}
!
func init() {
fetchCmd.Flags().Int("rsstimeout", 5, "Timeout (in min) for RSS retrival")
viper.BindPFlag("rsstimeout", fetchCmd.Flags().Lookup("rsstimeout"))
}
Fetch.go (3)
115

Fetching in a
goroutine
116

GoRoutines
•A function executing concurrently with
other goroutines in the same address space
•Lightweight
•Not threads, coroutines, or processes
117

Channels
•Channels are lightweight
•Synchronize goroutines by communication rather than locking shared
memory
•Channel <- Sender —- Writes block when channel is full
•<- Channel —- Reads blocks waiting for something to be read
•Great talk on channels given at GopherCon 
http://confreaks.com/videos/3422-gophercon2014-a-channel-compendium
118

Marshaling into
•We can’t return a T (no generics)
•We can reflect on any value of any type
•Marshal accepts the address of the value so
it can manipulate the value directly
119

func fetchRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 
Fetcher()
!
sigChan := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
signal.Notify(sigChan, os.Interrupt)
<-sigChan
}
Fetch.go (4)
120

func Fetcher() {
var config Config
if err := viper.Marshal(&config); err != nil {
fmt.Println(err)
}
!
for _, feed := range config.Feeds {
go PollFeed(feed.Url)
}
}
Fetch.go (5)
121

Learning about go-pkg-rss
•How do we learn how to use the package?
123

Learning about go-pkg-rss
•github.com/jteeuwen/go-pkg-rss
•Readme is pretty lacking
•godoc.org/github.com/jteeuwen/go-pkg-rss
124

godoc.org/github.com/jteeuwen/go-pkg-rss
125

For
•For, Foreach & While are all spelled ‘for’ in Go
for init; condition; post { }  
// Like a C for
for condition { }  
// Like a C while
for { }  
// Like a C for(;;)
127

func PollFeed(uri string) {
timeout := viper.GetInt("RSSTimeout")
if timeout < 1 {
timeout = 1
}
feed := rss.New(timeout, true, chanHandler, itemHandler)
!
for {
if err := feed.Fetch(uri, nil); err != nil {
fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "[e] %s: %s", uri, err)
return
}
!
fmt.Printf("Sleeping for %d seconds on %sn", feed.SecondsTillUpdate(), uri)
time.Sleep(time.Duration(feed.SecondsTillUpdate() * 1e9))
}
}
Fetch.GO (6)
128

func chanHandler(feed *rss.Feed, newchannels []*rss.Channel) {
fmt.Printf("%d new channel(s) in %sn", len(newchannels), feed.Url)
}
!
func itemHandler(feed *rss.Feed, ch *rss.Channel, newitems []*rss.Item) {
fmt.Printf("%d new item(s) in %sn", len(newitems), feed.Url)
}
Fetch.go (7)
129

❯ go run dagobah.go fetch --rsstimeout=1 
 
15 new item(s) in http://spf13.com/index.xml 
1 new channel(s) in http://spf13.com/index.xml 
Sleeping for 300 seconds on http://spf13.com/index.xml 
25 new item(s) in http://www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/default 
1 new channel(s) in http://www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/default 
Sleeping for 300 seconds on http://www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/
default 
10 new item(s) in http://dave.cheney.net/feed 
1 new channel(s) in http://dave.cheney.net/feed 
Sleeping for 299 seconds on http://dave.cheney.net/feed 
Running it
130

Tweet Break
I wrote my first goroutine at #OSCON with @spf13

https://
github.com/spf13/
firstGoApp-
Planet/tree/
step3
132

Step 4
 
Storing in  
the Database
133

Pretty
•github.com/kr/pretty
•pretty.Println(X,Y,Z)
134

MongoDB
•Open Source
•Document Database
•Document == Struct or Document == Map
•Works seamlessly with Go (and other languages)
135

MongoDB
•Fast & Scalable
•Used by Disney, IBM, Metlife, eBay,
Forbes, Craigslist, Cisco, Stripe
136

Mgo
•Developed by the open source community
•Heavily used throughout Go community
•"mgo is the best database driver I've ever used." 
— Patrick Crosby, Founder of StatHat
•"mgo and Go are a pair made in heaven. 
— Brian Ketelsen, Author of GopherTimes.com137

go get -u gopkg.in/mgo.v2
Getting mgo
138

//
!
package commands
!
import (
"fmt"
"os"
!
"gopkg.in/mgo.v2"
)
!
var mongodbSession *mgo.Session
!
func init() {
RootCmd.PersistentFlags().String("mongodb_uri", "localhost", "host where mongoDB is")
viper.BindPFlag("mongodb_uri", RootCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup(“mongodb_uri"))
CreateUniqueIndexes()
}
MongoDB.go (1)
140

Setting up a
DB session
141

func DBSession() *mgo.Session {
if mongodbSession == nil {
uri := os.Getenv("MONGODB_URI")
if uri == "" {
uri = viper.GetString("mongodb_uri")
!
if uri == "" {
log.Fatalln("No connection uri for MongoDB provided")
}
}
!
var err error
mongodbSession, err = mgo.Dial(uri)
if mongodbSession == nil || err != nil {
log.Fatalf("Can't connect to mongo, go error %vn", err)
}
!
mongodbSession.SetSafe(&mgo.Safe{})
}
return mongodbSession
}
MongoDB.go (2)
142

setting up
some
shortcuts
143

!
func DB() *mgo.Database {
return DBSession().DB(viper.GetString("dbname"))
}
!
func Items() *mgo.Collection {
return DB().C("items")
}
!
func Channels() *mgo.Collection {
return DB().C("channels")
}
MongoDB.go (3)
144

func CreateUniqueIndexes() {
idx := mgo.Index{
Key: []string{"key"},
Unique: true,
DropDups: true,
Background: true,
Sparse: true,
}
!
if err := Items().EnsureIndex(idx); err != nil {
fmt.Println(err)
}
!
if err := Channels().EnsureIndex(idx); err != nil {
fmt.Println(err)
}
}
MongoDB.go (4)
146

Data Prep
•Feeds are dirty
•Go doesn’t allow “patching” of structs (not
how structs work)
•MongoDB works with native types & named
types 148

Tags (Annotations)
•String literal following a field declaration
•Provides additional information during
reflection
•Used by JSON, BSON, YAML, etc
149

for x,y := range
•Provides a way to iterate over an array, slice,
string, map, or channel.
•Like Foreach or Each in other languages
•x is key, y is value… can ignore by setting
to _ 150

Append
•Append is really awesome, feels like push, but
does a lot more.
•Append will grow a slice (both length &
capacity)
•… and copy the underlying array if needed 151

type Itm struct {
Date time.Time
Key string
ChannelKey string
Title string
FullContent string
Links []*rss.Link
Description string
Author rss.Author
Categories []*rss.Category
Comments string
Enclosures []*rss.Enclosure
Guid *string `bson:",omitempty"`
Source *rss.Source
PubDate string
Id string `bson:",omitempty"`
Generator *rss.Generator
Contributors []string
Content *rss.Content
Extensions map[string]map[string][]rss.Extension
}
fetch.go
152

func itmify(o *rss.Item, ch *rss.Channel) Itm {
var x Itm
x.Title = o.Title
x.Links = o.Links
x.ChannelKey = ch.Key()
x.Description = o.Description
x.Author = o.Author
x.Categories = o.Categories
x.Comments = o.Comments
x.Enclosures = o.Enclosures
x.Guid = o.Guid
x.PubDate = o.PubDate
x.Id = o.Id
x.Key = o.Key()
x.Generator = o.Generator
x.Contributors = o.Contributors
x.Content = o.Content
x.Extensions = o.Extensions
x.Date, _ = o.ParsedPubDate()
!
if o.Content != nil && o.Content.Text != "" {
x.FullContent = o.Content.Text
} else {
x.FullContent = o.Description
}
!
return x
}
fetch.go
153

type Chnl struct {
Key string
Title string
Links []rss.Link
Description string
Language string
Copyright string
ManagingEditor string
WebMaster string
PubDate string
LastBuildDate string
Docs string
Categories []*rss.Category
Generator rss.Generator
TTL int
Rating string
SkipHours []int
SkipDays []int
Image rss.Image
ItemKeys []string
Cloud rss.Cloud
TextInput rss.Input
Extensions map[string]map[string]
[]rss.Extension
Id string
Rights string
Author rss.Author
SubTitle rss.SubTitle
}
fetch.go
154

func chnlify(o *rss.Channel) Chnl {
var x Chnl
x.Key = o.Key()
x.Title = o.Title
x.Links = o.Links
x.Description = o.Description
x.Language = o.Language
x.Copyright = o.Copyright
x.ManagingEditor = o.ManagingEditor
x.WebMaster = o.WebMaster
x.PubDate = o.PubDate
x.LastBuildDate = o.LastBuildDate
x.Docs = o.Docs
x.Categories = o.Categories
x.Generator = o.Generator
x.TTL = o.TTL
x.Rating = o.Rating
x.SkipHours = o.SkipHours
x.SkipDays = o.SkipDays
x.Image = o.Image
x.Cloud = o.Cloud
x.TextInput = o.TextInput
x.Extensions = o.Extensions
x.Id = o.Id
x.Rights = o.Rights
x.Author = o.Author
x.SubTitle = o.SubTitle
!
...
!
return x
}
fetch.go
155

...
!
!
var keys []string
for _, y := range o.Items {
keys = append(keys, y.Key())
}
x.ItemKeys = keys
!
...
fetch.go
156

Storing
Feeds &
Items
157

The Blank Identifier ‘_’
•Used to ignore return values from a
function
•Used with imports as an alias
• Allows import of unused packages so init
functions can be executed 158

func chanHandler(feed *rss.Feed, newchannels []*rss.Channel) {
fmt.Printf("%d new channel(s) in %sn", len(newchannels), feed.Url)
for _, ch := range newchannels {
chnl := chnlify(ch)
if err := Channels().Insert(chnl); err != nil {
if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "E11000") {
fmt.Printf("Database error. Err: %v", err)
}
}
}
}
fetch.go
159

func itemHandler(feed *rss.Feed, ch *rss.Channel, newitems []*rss.Item) {
fmt.Printf("%d new item(s) in %sn", len(newitems), feed.Url)
for _, item := range newitems {
itm := itmify(item, ch)
if err := Items().Insert(itm); err != nil {
if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "E11000") {
fmt.Printf("Database error. Err: %v", err)
}
}
}
}
fetch.go
160

❯ mongod 
 
MongoDB starting : pid=51054
port=27017 dbpath=/data/db
Running MongoDB
162

❯ mongo 
 
 
 
Mongo Shell
163

❯ go run dagobah.go fetch --rsstimeout=1 
 
15 new item(s) in http://spf13.com/index.xml 
1 new channel(s) in http://spf13.com/index.xml 
Sleeping for 300 seconds on http://spf13.com/index.xml 
25 new item(s) in http://www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/default 
1 new channel(s) in http://www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/default 
Sleeping for 300 seconds on http://www.goinggo.net/feeds/posts/
default 
10 new item(s) in http://dave.cheney.net/feed 
1 new channel(s) in http://dave.cheney.net/feed 
Sleeping for 299 seconds on http://dave.cheney.net/feed 
Running planet
164

> use dagobah
> db.items.findOne()
{
"_id" : ObjectId("53b4c08bddbc460a933cf3ed"),
"date" : ISODate("2014-07-01T00:00:00Z"),
"key" : "http://spf13.com/post/go-pointers-vs-references",
"channelkey" : "Recent Content on Hacking Management",
"title" : "Pointers vs References",
"links" : [
{
"href" : "http://spf13.com/post/go-pointers-vs-references",
"rel" : "",
"type" : "",
"hreflang" : ""
Looking at the Data
165

_ID
•MongoDB’s primary key
•Default is to use an “object_id”
•Object_id guaranteed to be unique across your
entire cluster
•MongoDB will create it for you on insert 166

Tweet Break
Feeding mgo at #OSCON with @spf13
http://j.mp/mongomgo

https://
github.com/spf13/
firstGoApp-
Planet/tree/
step4
168

Step 5
 
Building a  
web Server
169

Lots of choices
•Beego 
High-performance web
framework
•Gin 
Martini like with better
performance
•Goji 
A minimalistic web framework
•Gorilla  
A web toolkit
•httprouter 
A high performance router
•Mango  
modular web-app framework
like Rack
•Martini  
modular web apps & services
•net/http 
Standard library web package
•pat 
Sinatra style, by the author of
Sinatra.
•Revel 
A high-productivity web
framework
•tigertonic 
framework for JSON web
services
•traffic 
Sinatra inspired web framework
for Go
•web.go 
A simple framework to write
webapps in Go.
170

Gin
•Compatible with net/http
•Uses Httprouter (really fast)
•Familiar/Friendly Interface
•Works well with JSON
•Had to pick something 171

go get -u 
github.com/gin-gonic/gin
Getting Gin
172

//
!
package commands
!
import (
"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
)
Server.Go (1)
174

Defining the
Server
command
175

var serverCmd = &cobra.Command{
Use: "server",
Short: "Server for feeds",
Long: `Dagobah will serve all feeds listed in the config file.`,
Run: serverRun,
}
!
func init() {
serverCmd.Flags().Int("port", 1138, "Port to run Dagobah server on")
viper.BindPFlag("port", serverCmd.Flags().Lookup("port"))
}
server.go (2)
176

func addCommands() {
RootCmd.AddCommand(fetchCmd)
RootCmd.AddCommand(serverCmd)
}
planet.go
177

Defining our
first route
178

func serverRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
r := gin.Default()
!
r.GET("/ping", func(c *gin.Context) {
c.String(200, "pong")
})
!
port := viper.GetString("port")
fmt.Println("Running on port:", port)
r.Run(":" + port)
}
server.go (3)
179

❯ go run dagobah.go server
Running it
180

Check it out
http://localhost:1138 181

Tweet Break
I wrote a webserver in go using Gin  
with @spf13 at #OSCON http://j.mp/gin-go

https://
github.com/spf13/
firstGoApp-
Planet/tree/
step5
183

Step 6
 
Building a  
Dynamic Server
184

Binary Problem?
•Go ships as a single binary
•Need to load files from within the binary
•Don’t want to embed by hand
185

go.rice
•Nicely allows local loads in dev, and embedded
loads when executing binary
•Stable, but not very mature yet
•Best option I know of
186

go get -u  
github.com/GeertJohan/
go.rice
Getting Go.Rice
187

Get your
static &
templates on
c.spf13.com/OSCON/step6-static.zip
189

import (
"fmt"
"html/template"
"log"
"net/http"
!
"github.com/GeertJohan/go.rice"
"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
)
server.go
190

... 
r.GET("/static/*filepath", staticServe)
!
r.Run(":" + port)
}
server.go
191

func staticServe(c *gin.Context) {
static, err := rice.FindBox("static")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
!
original := c.Request.URL.Path
c.Request.URL.Path = c.Params.ByName("filepath")
fmt.Println(c.Params.ByName("filepath"))
http.FileServer(static.HTTPBox()).ServeHTTP(c.Writer, c.Request)
c.Request.URL.Path = original
}
server.go
192

Loading &
Serving
Templates
193

func loadTemplates(list ...string) *template.Template {
templateBox, err := rice.FindBox("templates")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
templates := template.New("")
!
for _, x := range list {
templateString, err := templateBox.String(x)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
!
// get file contents as string
_, err = templates.New(x).Parse(templateString)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
return templates
}
server.go
194

r := gin.Default()
templates := loadTemplates("full.html")
r.SetHTMLTemplate(templates)
!
r.GET("/ping", func(c *gin.Context) {
c.String(200, "pong")
})
!
r.GET("/", homeRoute)
r.GET("/static/*filepath", staticServe) 
!
r.Run(":" + port)
}
server.go
195

func homeRoute(c *gin.Context) {
obj := gin.H{"title": "Go Rules"}
c.HTML(200, “full.html", obj)
}
server.go
196

❯ go run dagobah.go server
Running it
197

Check it out

Tweet Break
No more mr rice guy  
with @spf13 at #OSCON http://j.mp/go-rice

https://
github.com/spf13/
firstGoApp-
Planet/tree/
step6
200

Step 7
 
Connecting the Data
to The templates
201

Go Templates
•Really nice to work with
•Very simple, yet very powerful
•Safe
•Go Template Primer
202

Understanding  
the data
203

> db.items.find().sort({ "date" : -1 }).limit(1).pretty()
{
"_id" : ObjectId("53b4c08bddbc460a933cf3ed"),
"date" : ISODate("2014-07-01T00:00:00Z"),
"key" : "http://spf13.com/post/go-pointers-vs-references",
"channelkey" : "Recent Content on Hacking Management",
"title" : "Pointers vs References",
"links" : [
{
"href" : "http://spf13.com/post/go-pointers-vs-references",
"rel" : "",
"type" : "",
"hreflang" : ""
}
Looking at the Schema
204

passing data
into the template
•Go’s templates accept a variety of data types
•Gin’s default is ‘H’ : map[string]interface{}
•Feels natural
•All (exported) methods bound to values in the
map are accessible inside the template 206

var posts []Itm
results := Items().Find(bson.M{}).Sort("-date").Limit(20)
results.All(&posts)
!
obj := gin.H{"title": "Go Rules", "posts": posts}
c.HTML(200, "full.html", obj)
}
server.go
207

...
<section id="latest-list" class="ui divided inbox selection list active tab" data-tab="recent">
{{ range $item := .posts }}
{{ if $item.WorthShowing }}
<a class="item" href=“#{{$item.Key | urlquery }}">
<div class="description">{{ $item.Title }}</div>
<div class="right floated ui label small">{{ $item.Date.Format "Jan 2, 2006" }}</div>
</a>
{{ end }}
{{ end }}
</section>
...
Full.html
208

Adding Helpers  
to itm
209

func (i Itm) FirstLink() (link rss.Link) {
if len(i.Links) == 0 || i.Links[0] == nil {
return
}
return *i.Links[0]
}
!
func (i Itm) WorthShowing() bool {
if len(i.FullContent) > 100 {
return true
}
return false
}
fetch.go
210

...
<main>
{{ with .message}}!
<h1 class="ui header large"> {{.}} </h1>!
{{ end }}!
!
{{ range $item := .posts }}!
{{ if $item.WorthShowing }}!
<article data-key="{{$item.Key}}">!
<header>!
<a name="{{$item.Key}}">!
<h1 class="ui header">{{$item.Title}}</h1>!
<section class="meta-tags">!
<a class="ui label large blue author" href="/channel/{{$item.ChannelKey}}">{{$item.Author.Name}}</a>!
<span class="large ui label date">{{ $item.Date.Format "Jan 2, 2006" }}</span>!
</section>!
</header>!
<section class="main-content">!
{{$item.FullContent | html }}!
</section>!
<footer>!
{{with $item.FirstLink}}!
<a class="ui basic button" href="{{.Href}}">Source</a>!
{{end}}!
<div class="ui divider"></div>!
</footer>!
</article>!
{{ end }}!
{{ else }}!
No Articles!
{{ end }}!
</main>
...
full.html
212

Adding Template
Functions
213

func loadTemplates(list ...string) *template.Template {
templateBox, err := rice.FindBox("templates")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
!
templates := template.New("")
!
for _, x := range list {
templateString, err := templateBox.String(x)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
!
// get file contents as string
_, err = templates.New(x).Parse(templateString)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
!
funcMap := template.FuncMap{
"html": ProperHtml,
"title": func(a string) string { return strings.Title(a) },
}
!
templates.Funcs(funcMap)
!
return templates
}
server.go
214

func ProperHtml(text string) template.HTML {
if strings.Contains(text, "content:encoded>") || strings.Contains(text, "content/:encoded>") {
text = html.UnescapeString(text)
}
return template.HTML(html.UnescapeString(template.HTMLEscapeString(text)))
}
server.go
215

Looking Good

Tweet Break
Conquering Go Templates  
with @spf13 at #OSCON

https://
github.com/spf13/
firstGoApp-
Planet/tree/
step7
218

Step 8
 
More Routes
219

func (c Chnl) HomePage() string {
if len(c.Links) == 0 {
return ""
}
!
url, err := url.Parse(c.Links[0].Href)
if err != nil {
log.Println(err)
}
return url.Scheme + "://" + url.Host
}
fetch.go
221

!
func four04(c *gin.Context, message string) {
c.HTML(404, "full.html", gin.H{"message": message, "title": message})
}
server.go
222

func AllChannels() []Chnl {
var channels []Chnl
r := Channels().Find(bson.M{}).Sort("-lastbuilddate")
r.All(&channels)
return channels
}
MongoDB.go
223

var posts []Itm
results := Items().Find(bson.M{}).Sort("-date").Limit(20)
results.All(&posts)
!
obj := gin.H{"title": "Go Rules",  
"posts": posts, "channels": AllChannels()}
}
server.go
225

...
<section id="channel-list"  
class="ui large inverted vertical menu tab" data-tab=“channels">
<a class="item js-navigate" href="/" >!
<i class="external home icon"></i>!
<span class="ui name" href=""> All </span>!
</a>!
{{ range $channel := .channels }}!
<div class="item js-navigate-channel" data-href="/channel/{{$channel.Key}}"  
data-key="{{$channel.Key}}" style="cursor:pointer;">!
<a href="{{$channel.HomePage}}" class="ui float right"><i class="external url sign icon"></i></a>!
<span class="ui name" href=""> {{$channel.Title}} </span>!
<span class="ui label">{{ len $channel.Links }}</span>!
</div>!
{{end}}!
</section>
...
full.html
226

...
r.GET("/channel/*key", channelRoute)
r.Run(":" + port)
}
server.go
228

func channelRoute(c *gin.Context) {
key := c.Params.ByName("key")
if len(key) < 2 {
four04(c, "Channel Not Found")
return
}
!
key = key[1:]
!
fmt.Println(key)
!
var posts []Itm
results := Items().Find(bson.M{"channelkey": key}).Sort("-date").Limit(20)
results.All(&posts)
!
if len(posts) == 0 {
four04(c, "No Articles")
return
}
...
server.go - pt 1
229

... 
var currentChannel Chnl
err := Channels().Find(bson.M{"key": key}).One(&currentChannel)
if err != nil {
if string(err.Error()) == "not found" {
four04(c, "Channel not found")
return
} else {
fmt.Println(err)
}
}
!
obj := gin.H{"title": currentChannel.Title,
"header": currentChannel.Title, "posts": posts, "channels": AllChannels()}
!
}
server.go - pt 2
230

...
r.GET("/post/*key", channelRoute)
r.Run(":" + port)
}
server.go
232

func postRoute(c *gin.Context) {
key := c.Params.ByName("key")
!
if len(key) < 2 {
four04(c, "Invalid Post")
return
}
!
key = key[1:]
!
var ps []Itm
r := Items().Find(bson.M{"key": key}).Sort("-date").Limit(1)
r.All(&ps)
!
if len(ps) == 0 {
four04(c, "Post not found")
return
}
...
server.go - Pt 1
233

... 
!
var posts []Itm
results := Items().Find(bson.M{"date": bson.M{"$lte": ps[0].Date}}).Sort("-date").Limit(20)
results.All(&posts)
!
obj := gin.H{"title": ps[0].Title, "posts": posts, "channels": AllChannels()}
!
}
server.go - Pt 2
234

Looking Good

Tweet Break
Making my own planet in #go with @spf13 
at #OSCON http://j.mp/go-planet

https://
github.com/spf13/
firstGoApp-
Planet/tree/
step8
237

Step 9
 
Advanced Routes
238

Congrats
•You’ve made it really far
•Now the training wheels are off
•Let’s try to add pagination & search
240

Hints
•You will need a new index
•We’re talking full text here
•You will also need a new route
241

...
r.GET("/", homeRoute)
r.GET("/post/*key", postRoute)
r.GET("/search/*query", searchRoute)
r.GET("/static/*filepath", staticServe)
r.GET("/channel/*key", channelRoute)
...
server.go
242

Step 10
!
Add Polish
243

What’s next ?
•Add ‘truncate’ command to remove old posts
and channels
•Change root command to run fetcher &
server
•Add infinite scroll capabilities 244

What’s next ?
•Make it so users can provide their own
static files & templates
•Documentation
•Blog posts
245

In Conclusion
246
Go mascot designed by Renée French and copyrighted under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.

What have we done ?
•Written our first lines of Go
•Written our first Go package
•Written our own web server
•Written our first Go application
•Learned a lot & had fun doing it 248

@spf13
•Author of Hugo, Cobra, Viper
& More
•Chief Developer Advocate for
MongoDB
•Gopher 249

Getting Started with Go

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