Learn Go with the help of Python

Whether you are a programming rookie or a seasoned veteran, there is a high probability that you have heard the following at least once in your life

All the programming language is the same. Just they have a different syntax. If you can learn a language you can learn others too.

I am also a sore believer in this. And then I thought why not give it a spin. Also, I have been willing to learn Go for a while but couldn't do so because of my procrastination😅. So, I thought it will be fun(and probably a smooth journey).

Why Go lang

Now, there is a ton of programming language available out there. So, why I chose Go instead of some other language? This is the reason why.

• It has a cute mascot 🙄
• It is compiled(that means it will run fast)
• Simple code syntax
• Great backend support
• Good for writing CLI apps
• What you can do in python you can do in Go(a bit faster)
• A worthy opponent for Python 😋

Okay, here is a more detailed version.

Before I start

• If you already know python then great, your transition to Go will be smooth like butter
• If you don't know Python then awesome, you are going to learn two new languages at once. Isn't that cool?

Basic syntax

Despite fancy syntax of various languages, there lies some common stuff that you will need to know for a jump start with any new programming language. This is what makes the backbone of a programming language(in no particular order).

• Variables
• Data types
• Input-output
• Loops
• Control statements aka, conditions
• Function

So, let's go 😅

1.Hello world in Go

Go follows a C like syntax. So, you don't have the luxury to just start coding as you would do in python.

print("Hello world")

In Go, a hello world program will look like this:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, world")
}

If you are familiar with C, you will see a common pattern here. First, import header then call main function and then write your stuff.

2.Variables

While you just type the name of a variable and then the value in python, there is some exception in go. This is what a basic variable declaration looks like in python.

var variable_name = value

And this is how you should do this in Go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, world")
        var fruit = "apple"
        var number = 10
}

However, once you assign a value to a variable, you cannot change the data type of it. For example

a = 50
a = "fifty"

This is valid in python. But you cannot do this in Go.

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, world")
        var a = 50
        var a = "fifty"
}

If you don't want to type var all the time, you can do this

fruit := "apple"

Here is some more way you can create a variable in Go.

3.Data types

There are a lot of advance data types in both Python and in Go. Here are some common data types you will probably need to use more often.

4.Input-output

This is how you take input in python

name = input("What's your name?")

This is how to do that in Go

var name
fmt.Scan(&name)

(Don't forget to import fmt)

5.Loops

Unfortunately, there is no while loop in Golang. So, you have to get the job done only with for loops.

for i in range(50):
    # Do something

Here is how you write loops in go

for i := 0; i < 50; i++{
    // Do something

So, first, you initialize a variable, then set the range of the variable and then increment the variable.

6.Conditionals

You can control the flow of your code with the help of conditionals.

if num == 1:
    print("The number is one")
elif num == 2:
    print("The number is two")
else:
    print("The number is neither 1 nor 2")

And in Go

if num == 1 {
    fmt.Println("The number is one")
} else if num == 2 {
    fmt.Println("The number is two")
} else {
    fmt.Println("The number is neither one nor two")
}

7.Functions

Finally, lets declare some functions. Oh! wait, you have already done that. When? the func main() itself is a function!

def add(a, b):
    return a + b

And in Go

func add(a int, b int){
    return a + b
}

Further reading

If you want a more in-depth knowledge of Go(which you sure do), I will suggest you read this.

• Tutorialspoint
• Codecademy
• Official Tutorial

Happy learning for you. 🤗