Getting Started with Go

University of California, Irvine via Coursera

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Overview

Getting Started with Go is an introductory course designed to teach the fundamentals of the Go programming language (also known as Golang), developed by Google. Ideal for beginners and programmers familiar with other languages, this course offers a solid foundation in writing clean, efficient, and concurrent code using Go. The course begins with the basics—covering Go’s syntax, data types, functions, control structures, and error handling. Learners will then dive into more powerful features that set Go apart, such as goroutines and...

Syllabus

Introduction to the Specialization
Introduction to the Course

Learn the basics of Go, an open source programming language originally developed by a team at Google and enhanced by many contributors from the open source community. This is the first in a series of three courses comprising the Programming with Google Go specialization. It is designed for individuals with previous programming experience using such languages as C, Python, or Java, and covers the fundamental elements of Go. Topics include data types, protocols, formats, and writing code that incorporates RFCs and JSON. Most importantly, youll have a chance to practice writing Go programs and receive feedback from your peers. Upon completing this course, youll be able to implement simple Go programs, which will prepare you for the remaining two courses in this specialization: Functions, Methods, and Interfaces in Go and Concurrency in Go.

Module 1: Getting Started with Go

This first module gets you started with Go. You'll learn about the advantages of using Go and begin exploring the language's features. Midway through the module, youll take a break from "theory" and install the Go programming environment on your computer. At the end of the module, you'll write a simple program that displays Hello, World on your screen.

Module 2: Basic Data Types

Now that youve set up your programming environment and written a test program, youre ready to dive into data types. This module introduces data types in Go and gives you practice writing routines that manipulate different kinds of data objects, including floating-point numbers and strings.

Module 3: Composite Data Types

At this point, were ready to move into more complex data types, including arrays, slices, maps, and structs. As in the previous module, youll have a chance to practice writing code that makes use of these data types.

Module 4: Protocols and Formats

This final module of the course introduces the use of remote function calls (RFCs) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) in Go. Youll learn how to access and manipulate data from external files, and have an opportunity to write several routines using Go that exercise this functionality.