<!--{
	"Title": "Documentation",
	"Path": "/doc/"
}-->

<p>
The Go programming language is an open source project to make programmers more
productive.
</p>

<p>
Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency
mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore
and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and
modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the
convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a
fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed,
interpreted language.
</p>

<div id="manual-nav"></div>

<h2 id="learning">Learning Go</h2>

<h3 id="go_tour"><a href="http://tour.golang.org/">A Tour of Go</a></h3>
<p>
An interactive introduction to Go in three sections.
The first section covers basic syntax and data structures; the second discusses
methods and interfaces; and the third introduces Go's concurrency primitives.
Each section concludes with a few exercises so you can practice what you've
learned. You can <a href="http://tour.golang.org/">take the tour online</a> or
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/go-tour/">install it locally</a>.
</p>

<h3 id="orig_tutorial"><a href="go_tutorial.html">A Tutorial for the Go Programming Language</a></h3>
<p>
The first tutorial. An introductory text that touches upon several core
concepts: syntax, types, allocation, constants, I/O, sorting, printing,
goroutines, and channels.
</p>

<h3 id="effective_go"><a href="effective_go.html">Effective Go</a></h3>
<p>
A document that gives tips for writing clear, idiomatic Go code.
A must read for any new Go programmer. It augments the tutorial and
the language specification, both of which should be read first.
</p>

<h3 id="code"><a href="code.html">How to write Go code</a></h3>
<p>
How to write a new package and how to test code.
</p>

<h3 id="appengine"><a href="http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/go/gettingstarted/">Getting Started with Go on App Engine</a></h3>
<p>
How to develop and deploy a simple Go project with
<a href="http://code.google.com/appengine/">Google App Engine</a>.
</p>

<h3 id="go_faq"><a href="go_faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)</a></h3>
<p>
Answers to common questions about Go.
</p>

<h3>Other introductory articles</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="codelab/wiki/">Writing Web Applications</a> - 
	building a simple web application.</li>
<li><a href="go_for_cpp_programmers.html">Go for C++ Programmers</a></li>
</ul>

<h2 id="articles">Go Articles</h2>

<h3>Codewalks</h3>
<p>
Guided tours of Go programs. 
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/doc/codewalk/functions">First-Class Functions in Go</a></li>
<li><a href="/doc/codewalk/markov">Generating arbitrary text: a Markov chain algorithm</a></li>
<li><a href="/doc/codewalk/sharemem">Share Memory by Communicating</a></li>
</ul>

<h3>Language</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2010/04/json-rpc-tale-of-interfaces.html">JSON-RPC: a tale of interfaces</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2010/07/gos-declaration-syntax.html">Go's Declaration Syntax</a></li>
<li><a href="/doc/articles/defer_panic_recover.html">Defer, Panic, and Recover</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2010/09/go-concurrency-patterns-timing-out-and.html">Go Concurrency Patterns: Timing out, moving on</a></li>
<li><a href="/doc/articles/slices_usage_and_internals.html">Go Slices: usage and internals</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/05/gif-decoder-exercise-in-go-interfaces.html">A GIF decoder: an exercise in Go interfaces</a></li>
<li><a href="/doc/articles/error_handling.html">Error Handling and Go</a></li>
</ul>

<h3>Packages</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/01/json-and-go.html">JSON and Go</a> - using the <a href="/pkg/encoding/json/">json</a> package.</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/03/gobs-of-data.html">Gobs of data</a> - the design and use of the <a href="/pkg/encoding/gob/">gob</a> package.</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/09/laws-of-reflection.html">The Laws of Reflection</a> - the fundamentals of the <a href="/pkg/reflect/">reflect</a> package.</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/09/go-image-package.html">The Go image package</a> - the fundamentals of the <a href="/pkg/image/">image</a> package.</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/09/go-imagedraw-package.html">The Go image/draw package</a> - the fundamentals of the <a href="/pkg/image/draw/">image/draw</a> package.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Tools</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/03/c-go-cgo.html">C? Go? Cgo!</a> - linking against C code with <a href="/cmd/cgo/">cgo</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/03/godoc-documenting-go-code.html">Godoc: documenting Go code</a> - writing good documentation for <a href="/cmd/godoc/">godoc</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/06/profiling-go-programs.html">Profiling Go Programs</a></li>
</ul>

<h2 id="videos_talks">Videos and Talks</h2>

<h3 id="writing_web_apps"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i0hat7pdpk">Writing Web Apps in Go</a></h3>
<p>
A talk by Rob Pike and Andrew Gerrand presented at Google I/O 2011.
It walks through the construction and deployment of a simple web application
and unveils the <a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/05/go-and-google-app-engine.html">Go runtime for App Engine</a>.
See the <a href="/doc/talks/io2011/Writing_Web_Apps_in_Go.pdf">presentation slides</a>.
</p>

<h3 id="real_world_go"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDVRowyUQA">Real World Go</a></h3>
<p>
A talk by Andrew Gerrand presented at Google I/O Bootcamp 2011.
It gives a broad overview of Go's type system and concurrency model
and provides four examples of Go programs that solve real problems.
See the <a href="/doc/talks/io2011/Real_World_Go.pdf">presentation slides</a>.
</p>

<h3 id="go_programming"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgVhBThJdXc">Go Programming</a></h3>
<p>
A presentation delivered by Rob Pike and Russ Cox at Google I/O 2010.  It
illustrates how programming in Go differs from other languages through a set of
examples demonstrating features particular to Go.  These include concurrency,
embedded types, methods on any type, and program construction using interfaces. 
</p>

<h3 id="practical_go_programming"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-pPAvqyluI">Practical Go Programming</a></h3>
<p>
This talk presents the development of a complete web application in Go.
It looks at design, storage, concurrency, and scaling issues in detail, using
the simple example of an URL shortening service.
See the <a href="http://wh3rd.net/practical-go/">presentation slides</a>.
</p>

<h3 id="techtalk"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKnDgT73v8s">The Go Tech Talk</a></h3>
<p>
An hour-long talk delivered by Rob Pike at Google in October 2009. 
The language's first public introduction. (See the <a href="talks/go_talk-20091030.pdf">slides in PDF format</a>.) The language has changed since it was made,
but it's still a good introduction.
</p>

<h3 id="jaoo_go"><a href="/doc/ExpressivenessOfGo.pdf">The Expressiveness Of Go</a></h3>
<p>
A discussion of the qualities that make Go an expressive and comprehensible
language.  The talk was presented by Rob Pike at JAOO 2010.
The recording of the event was lost due to a hardware error.
</p>

<h3 id="oscon_go"><a href="http://www.oscon.com/oscon2010/public/schedule/detail/14760">Another Go at Language Design</a></h3>
<p>
A tour, with some background, of the major features of Go, intended for
an audience new to the language.  The talk was presented at OSCON 2010.
See the <a href="http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/45/Another%20Go%20at%20Language%20Design%20Presentation.pdf">presentation slides</a>.
</p>
<p>
This talk was also delivered at Sydney University in September 2010. A video
of the lecture is available 
<a href="http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/videos/seminar_pike">here</a>.
</p>

<h3 id="emerging_go"><a href="http://www.oscon.com/oscon2010/public/schedule/detail/15464">Go Emerging Languages Conference Talk</a></h3>
<p>
Rob Pike's Emerging Languages Conference presentation delivered in July 2010. See the <a href="http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/45/Go%20Presentation.pdf">presentation slides</a>. Abstract:
</p>
<p><i>
Go’s approach to concurrency differs from that of many languages, even those
(such as Erlang) that make concurrency central, yet it has deep roots. The path
from Hoare’s 1978 paper to Go provides insight into how and why Go works as it
does.
</i></p>

<h3 id="go_frontend_gcc"><a href="talks/gofrontend-gcc-summit-2010.pdf">The Go frontend for GCC</a></h3>
<p>
A description of the Go language frontend for gcc.
Ian Lance Taylor's paper delivered at the GCC Summit 2010.
</p>

<h3 id="promo_video"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwoWei-GAPo">The Go Promo Video</a></h3>
<p>
A short promotional video featuring Russ Cox demonstrating Go's fast compiler.
</p>

<h2 id="developer_info">The Go Community</h2>

<h3 id="mailinglist"><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/golang-nuts">Go Nuts Mailing List</a></h3>
<p>The <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/golang-nuts">golang-nuts</a> 
mailing list is for general Go discussion.</p>

<h3 id=""><a href="http://godashboard.appspot.com/package">Go Packages Dashboard</a></h3>
<p>A list of the most popular <a href="/cmd/goinstall/">goinstall</a>'d
Go libraries.</p>

<h3 id=""><a href="http://godashboard.appspot.com/project">Go Project Dashboard</a></h3>
<p>A list of external Go projects including programs and libraries.</p>

<h3 id="irc"><a href="irc:irc.freenode.net/go-nuts">Go IRC Channel</a></h3>
<p><b>#go-nuts</b> on <b>irc.freenode.net</b> is the official Go IRC channel.</p>

<h3 id="twitter"><a href="http://twitter.com/go_nuts">@go_nuts at Twitter</a></h3>
<p>The Go project's official Twitter account.</p>

<h2 id="tutorials_nonenglish">Non-English Documentation</h2>

<h4 id="docs_be">Belarusian &mdash; Беларуская</h4>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.designcontest.com/show/faq-be">faq-be</a> - Frequently Asked Questions.</li>
</ul>

<h4 id="docs_cn">Chinese &mdash; 中文</h4>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://go-tour-zh.appspot.com/">A Tour of Go</a></li>
<li><a href="http://code.google.com/p/golang-china/">golang-china</a> - a broad range of Go documentation.</li>
<li><a href="http://code.google.com/p/ac-me/downloads/detail?name=fango.pdf">Effective Go and Tutorial</a></li>
</ul>

<h4 id="docs_cz">Czech &mdash; Čeština</h4>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.abclinuxu.cz/clanky/google-go-pravidla-reflexe">Pravidla reflexe</a> - a translation of <a href="http://blog.golang.org/2011/09/laws-of-reflection.html">The Laws of Reflection</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h4 id="docs_fr">French &mdash; Français</h4>

<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/golang-france/">golang-france</a> - Go documentation.
</ul>

<h4 id="docs_de">German &mdash; Deutsch</h4>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://bitloeffel.de/DOC/golang/go_tutorial_de.html">Eine Anleitung zum Programmieren in Go</a> - the Go Tutorial.</li>
<li><a href="http://bitloeffel.de/DOC/golang/effective_go_de.html">Wirkungsvoll Go programmieren</a> - Effective Go.</li>
<li><a href="http://bitloeffel.de/DOC/golang/code_de.html">Wie man Go-Kode schreibt</a> - How to Write Go Code.</li>
</ul>

<h4 id="docs_jp">Japanese &mdash; 日本語</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://go-tour-jp.appspot.com/">A Tour of Go</a></li>
<li><a href="http://golang.jp/">golang.jp</a> - Go documentation and news.</li>
</ul>

<h4 id="docs_kr">Korean &mdash; 한국어</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://go-tour-kr.appspot.com">A Tour of Go</a></li>
<li><a href="http://code.google.com/p/golang-korea">golang-korea</a> - Go documentation and news.</li>
</ul>