What is the Tao of Go, and how can we work with it, like a surfer going with the waves instead of struggling against them? By being kind, simple, humble, and not striving; here’s how.
Random testing in Go
Choosing good test cases for our Go programs can be a bit hit-and-miss. What if we could automate that process? Let’s talk about randomisation, property-based testing, and Go’s built-in fuzz testing feature.
The adapter pattern in Go
How do you test a database without a database? Don't worry, this isn't one of those Zen puzzles. I have something more practical, but equally enlightening, in mind. Let’s use the adapter pattern to solve the riddle.
A generic Set type in Go
To celebrate the first anniversary of generics in Go, let’s build something practical and useful: a generic Set type, and add some neat methods to it. Ready for fun?
From packages to commands
In Part 2 of a series about writing packages, not programs, we see how to test a package that prints to the terminal, and use the result to build our “hello, world” CLI tool.
Write packages, not programs
Go has a great standard library. What if we think about our work not merely as building one-off programs, but instead contributing packages to the universal Go library?
Death of a thousand nits
Could we give and receive code reviews with kindness, gentleness, humility, and compassion? Can we make a point without making an enemy? Let’s go line by line.
A career ending mistake
As software engineers, we're constantly making detailed, elaborate plans for computers to execute. Isn't it weird that we rarely give a moment's thought to the program for our own careers?
Go’s best-kept secret: executable examples
Did you know that Go lets us provide executable code examples as part of our documentation? It’s pretty neat. Let’s take a tour of this useful feature and see how it works.
Error wrapping in Go
Distinguishing between specific error values and types is easy in Go, thanks to the (relatively) new errors.Is and errors.As functions. Let’s talk about what they do, when and how to use them, and how to know which one is appropriate.
Standalone test scripts
Wouldn't it be nice if we could run test scripts directly from the command line? The standalone testscript tool does exactly that. Let’s see how to use it to create simple, self-contained issue repros.
Comparing Go error values
Usually what matters about an error is that it’s not nil, but what if we want to know whether it’s some specific error value? For example, in a test? Let’s look at some of the right and wrong ways to do that.
Conditions and concurrency
Continuing our series on the testscript package, we look at some advanced techniques in test scripts such as conditions, concurrency, and managing environment variables.
Testing errors in Go
How should we test errors in Go? And how does the need for this testing influence the way we construct, handle, and pass around errors within our Golang programs?
Files in test scripts
The txtar format is an ingenious way to supply arbitrary files and folder structures to test scripts. We’ll also learn about file management, simulating standard input, and breaking up scripts into phases.
Testing CLI tools in Go
The testscript package gives us an easy way to test the behaviour of a Go CLI tool, by executing it as an independent binary. Let’s see how.
So you're ready for green belt?
If you’re a BIT student, are you ready for your green belt test? If you’re studying independently, check your Go skills and see whether you’d pass this demanding certification.
Flipping the script
Wouldn’t it be great if we could write tests for our Go CLI tools that are simple as shell scripts? The testscript package lets us do exactly that. Let’s take it for a spin.
VS Code and Go: a superhero's guide
Visual Studio Code is the most popular Go editor, and no wonder: it’s the Batman’s utility belt of editors. Let’s cape up and take a tour of VS Code’s Go superpowers.
Tips for Time Lords
Being a Time Lord isn't about which planet you're born on, or whether you can regenerate. You don't even need a sonic screwdriver. All you need to do is think effectively, and do the right things, in the right way, at the right time. Here’s how.