Golang or Google Go has been out in the wild for over nine years already. It was created out of the curiosity of geeks all around the world to become an already established and the language that already has had a fair share of battle to develop into the language which we know it as today. It has gained immense popularity in such a small span of time and is already at the center of many cloud projects.
Docker was one of the places where Google had shown some outstanding promise. So it is natural for us to wonder what makes Google Go so unique that it has been adopted by the likes of the Kubernetes development team? Well, a simple answer would be the characteristics that define the language of Google Go. We would discuss more of this in the upcoming section, but a quick response would be the lightweight nature of this language.
It seems like Google Go has a long and bright future ahead of it, especially considering the fact that even the team Docker has also made it a point to develop in Google Go. Google Go is only at the stage of growth and soon is expected to be used in many applications. So, getting a Google Go proficiency in the current landscape is bound to give you an edge in your resume and, ultimately, when you seek a job.
One of the best ways to practice and gain Google Go skills is to do golang projects. To help you out in your journey to be the best Google Go developer out there, we have made a list of some excellent golang project ideas that should test your mettle and give your resume a lovely weight.
However, it would not be wise to jump into the golang project ideas directly without getting accustomed to this reasonably new Google Go language. So, in the subsequent section, let us explore the world of Google Go a bit further.
Golang or Google Go’s selling points
We have already mentioned how easy it is to have a solid grasp over Google Go. However, Google Go did not gain popularity because of its easy to understand and use syntax. It rose to fame because it had something for everyone. According to the official documentation, which is present on the documentation of Google Go, “Google Go is a speedy language which is statically typed and interpreted.
Even a program that is written in Google Go and has thousands of lines would only take a few seconds to compile. You are also not going to see the inclusion of header files much in any written code of Google go, which only adds to the speed of the language. There are more apparent benefits, as well. We would be discussing two of them down below:
Convenience: Go is often compared with languages like Python. The main reason why this comparison is justified is that Google Go has the capability to satisfy almost every need of any developer. You would be able to find some of the functionalities which you often find in Python directly in Google Go under the name of “goroutines.”
With the help of these goroutines, you also are able to get some essential functions like concurrency and thread like behavior. You can also find a package which could suit almost every need, even in a language as new as Google Go.
Continuing our comparison with Python, Google Go also provides developers the feature of automatic management of memory. In Google Go, you even find automated garbage collection. However, unlike traditional languages like Python, Google Go complies with the code, which is written with its help very fast.
It even outperforms the likes of Python and C++, the same languages which is it modeled after. So, working with Google Go is always an enjoyable ride. You often feel like Google Go is like a scripted language rather than a compiled one. Moreover, the entire ecosystem that Google Go is building seems significantly less complicated and thus making it very convenient to work with this language.
Speed: Although the binaries which are written in Google Go actually are slower than the ones which you would find on C but almost any task, you would not be able to notice the speed difference at all. Generally, Google Go is in range with the performance that you would get if you had chosen C as the language of your choice. However, it is much faster than any other language, which is hailed and loved for developing things quickly.
Read: Full Stack Project Ideas & Topics
Golang Project Ideas
When you step into the world of golang projects you would be welcomed by a huge variety of things that you would be able to do and stuff that you would be able to make. We are listing some projects which you would be able to complete over a weekend.
1. Using the POSTGRESQL text search in conjunction with Google Go
Have you ever had the opportunity to feast your eyes at the marvel of the PostgreSQL full-text search feature? If not, let us break it down for you. You would be able to use this feature very effortlessly. If you happen to mix in the power of Google Go with it, you would be able to create web apps like the Scenes Of Shakespeare.
The job of the web app, which goes by the name of Scenes of Shakespeare, is to quickly do a search through all the plays that he has written during the course of his life. You should ideally see the application in action because you would be able to make something which is very similar, but it can do whatever you would want.
2. Using Google go to Write out something which is a store the key and value pair (persistent key and value store)
It is very easy to create persistent storage with the help of Google Go. However, you would also be needing BoltDB to store your data into and gob encoding. To help you out, we would include a pseudo code. The main code of this project is small enough to fit in just one file, and you should be able to complete this project fairly quickly.
- // everything is persisted to disk
- store, err := skv.Open(“/path/to/store.db”)
- // store a complex object without making a fuss
- var info session.Info
- store.Put(“sess-341356”, info)
- // get it back later, identifying the object with a string key
- store.Get(“sess-341356”, &info)
- // delete it when we no longer need it
- store.Delete(“sess-341356”)
- // bye
- store.Close()
Also Read: Web Development Project Ideas
3. Building out your own bot for Slack with the help of Google Go
Playing around with slack bots are very fun. If you are able to complete this project, you would be able to have your own bot, which would run for the website slack. You would need two things, first a slack account and the user privilege to create a slack bot. It would be best if you then headed over to the official slack website and then go to their bot creation page.
The code which you would be needing to make this project a success would be fitting in two separate files. You can then host your code on GitHub and run the code with the help of just one line and see what your bot will do.
These were some of the fun projects which you could do over the weekend. However, if you already are an expert of Google Go then we would recommend some of the following open-source projects for you. You can take a look at these and decide which one (if not all of them) you would like to make a contribution.
Powerful Open-source Google Go projects
1. Docker
The story of docker and Google Go is nothing short of an exhilarating romantic saga. It was as if they were meant for each other. Hence, you will not find a better open-source repo to contribute for those of you unaware of docker. It is a technology that revolutionized container-based applications. You can check their GitHub page for more How-tos.
2. Kubernetes
The success of Go with Docker propelled the team Kubernetes to make a switch also to this language. Kubernetes is the container orchestration tool developed by the in-house team of Google. If you like cloud, be sure to check out Kubernetes and make your contribution.
3. InfluxDB
Those of you who like machine learning, especially “time series,” would love to work on this project. For starters, InfluxDB is the Database which is meant to be a warehouse for time-series data. InfluxDB does not have any external dependencies meaning it should be fairly easy to go through the entire project and make your contribution wherever needed.
Must Read: Mean Stack Project Ideas & Topics
Conclusion
We hope that irrespective of your proficiency with Google Go, you could find some projects to work on. We also hope you could learn something new about the Google Go language and why it is becoming popular these days.
If you are interested to learn more and need mentorship from industry experts, check out upGrad & IIIT Banglore’s PG Diploma in Full-Stack Software Development.
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