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System Programming Essentials with Go
System Programming Essentials with Go

System Programming Essentials with Go: System calls, networking, efficiency, and security practices with practical projects in Golang

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System Programming Essentials with Go

Why Go?

At some point in your programming journey, your programs performed I/O-related tasks such as creating and removing files and directories. They may have orchestrated the creation of new processes and the execution of other programs or even facilitated communication between threads and processes on the same computer and between processes on different computers connected via a network.

When our programs center on using a low-level set of tasks, we categorize them as system programming.

It is alleged that system programming is tedious. But I do not see it this way at all! In fact, it is quite the opposite – an enjoyable and entertaining experience. It is like being a magician. You get to control the operating system and hardware, and you can make things happen that would be impossible in other languages.

In this chapter, we discuss why Go is an excellent fit for building efficient, high-performance system software to support real-world scenarios.

In this chapter...

Choosing Go

There are plenty of languages in the system programming space nowadays: some are well established, such as C and C++; some form a wave of newcomers, such as Zig, Rust, and Odin; and others claim the title of “C/C++ killer,” with their pledges of impressive performance.

Sure, we can use all of them and achieve outstanding results. Still, we could fall into hidden traps such as a steep learning curve, high cognitive load, a lack of community and support, inconsistent APIs with constant breaking changes, and a lack of adoption.

Go’s design philosophy emphasizes simplicity, expressiveness, robustness, and efficiency. Its support for concurrency and strong dependency management, as well as its focus on composition, make it a compelling choice for system programming. Its creators aimed to build a language that provides powerful building blocks without unnecessary complexity, which makes writing, reading, understanding, and maintaining system-level code...

Concurrency and goroutines

One of the most essential features of Go is its concurrency model. Concurrency is the ability to run multiple tasks at the same time. In system programming, executing many tasks in parallel is essential for improving the performance and responsiveness of our programs.

Concurrency

Real-time systems demand precision, with concurrency being a pivotal factor. These systems coordinate tasks with exceptional timing, particularly in scenarios where even milliseconds matter. Concurrency offers significant advantages by increasing throughput (a measure of how many units of information a system can process in a given amount of time) while decreasing task completion times. Real-life instances show how concurrency improves responsiveness, making systems more flexible and tasks more efficient. Moreover, concurrency’s isolation abilities guarantee data integrity by preventing interference.

System programming involves a diverse range of tasks, from CPU-bound...

Interacting with the OS

Go’s approach to system calls is designed to be safe and efficient, especially in the context of its concurrency model.

In Go, system calls are comparatively lower-level in comparison to certain other programming languages. It can be helpful if you need fine-grained control over system resources, but it also means you’re dealing with more low-level details.

Making system calls often requires understanding the underlying operating system APIs and conventions. The side effect is that it can introduce a steeper learning curve if you are new to systems programming or lower-level development.

Not familiar with system calls? Fear not! The book’s second part will explore and experiment with them in detail to cover the main aspects we need to progress in our system programming journey.

Tooling

Go is like a toolbox. It has everything we need to build great software, so we don’t need anything more than its standard tools to create our programs.

Let’s explore the principal tools that facilitate building, testing, running, error-checking, and code formatting.

go build

The go build command is used to compile Go code into an executable binary that you can run.

Let’s see an example.

Assume you have a Go source file named main.go containing the following code:

package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, Go!")
}

You can compile it using the go build command:

go build main.go

This will generate an executable binary named main (or main.exe on Windows). You can then run the binary to see the output:

./main

go test

The go test command is used to run tests on your Go code. It automatically finds test files and runs the associated test functions.

Here’s an...

Cross-platform development with Go

Cross-platform development with Go is a breeze. You can write code running on various operating systems and architectures with ease.

Cross-platform development with Go can be achieved by using the GOOS and GOARCH environment variables. The GOOS environment variable specifies the OS you want to target, and the GOARCH environment variable specifies your target architecture.

For example, assume you have a Go source file named main.go:

package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
    fmt.Println("This program runs in any OS!")
}

To compile code for Linux, you would set the GOOS environment variable to linux and the GOARCH environment variable to amd64:

GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build

This command will compile the code for Linux.

You can also use the GOOS and GOARCH environment variables to run code on different platforms. For example, to run the code you compiled for Linux on macOS, you would set...

Summary

This chapter provided a comprehensive guide to why Go is a top choice for system programming and insights into Go’s design philosophy, emphasizing simplicity, robustness, and efficiency. We learned about Go’s concurrency model, its approach to interacting with the OS, and how to interact with the tools for cross-platform development. These lessons are helpful as they equip us with the knowledge needed to write, read, and maintain system-level code with Go, enabling improved performance and the ability to work with concurrency.

In the next chapter, we explore the concurrency concepts, refreshing all related concepts and building blocks. It will prepare us for more advanced interactions with OS interfaces, enhancing our ability to create powerful and responsive programs.

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Key benefits

  • Get a deep understanding of how Go simplifies system-level memory management and concurrency
  • Gain expert guidance on essential topics like file operations, process management, and network programming
  • Learn cross-platform system programming and how to build applications that interact directly with the OS

Description

Alex Rios, a seasoned Go developer and active community builder, shares his 15 years of expertise in designing large-scale systems through this book. It masterfully cuts through complexity, enabling you to build efficient and secure applications with Go's streamlined syntax and powerful concurrency features. In this book, you’ll learn how Go, unlike traditional system programming languages (C/C++), lets you focus on the problem by prioritizing readability and elevating developer experience with features like automatic garbage collection and built-in concurrency primitives, which remove the burden of low-level memory management and intricate synchronization. Through hands-on projects, you'll master core concepts like file I/O, process management, and inter-process communication to automate tasks and interact with your system efficiently. You'll delve into network programming in Go, equipping yourself with the skills to build robust, distributed applications. This book goes beyond the basics by exploring modern practices like logging and tracing for comprehensive application monitoring, and advance to distributed system design using Go to prepare you to tackle complex architectures. By the end of this book, you'll emerge as a confident Go system programmer, ready to craft high-performance, secure applications for the modern world.

Who is this book for?

This book is for software engineers looking to expand their understanding of system programming concepts. Professionals with a coding foundation seeking profound knowledge of system-level operations will also greatly benefit. Additionally, individuals interested in advancing their system programming skills, whether experienced developers or those transitioning to the field, will find this book indispensable.

What you will learn

  • Understand the fundamentals of system programming using Go
  • Grasp the concepts of goroutines, channels, data races, and managing concurrency in Go
  • Manage file operations and inter-process communication (IPC)
  • Handle USB drives and Bluetooth devices and monitor peripheral events for hardware automation
  • Familiarize yourself with the basics of network programming and its application in Go
  • Implement logging, tracing, and other telemetry practices
  • Construct distributed cache and approach distributed systems using Go
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Publication date : Jun 28, 2024
Length: 408 pages
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Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781837634132
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Product Details

Publication date : Jun 28, 2024
Length: 408 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781837634132
Category :
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Tools :

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Table of Contents

22 Chapters
Part 1: Introduction Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 1: Why Go? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 2: Refreshing Concurrency and Parallelism Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Part 2: Interaction with the OS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 3: Understanding System Calls Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 4: File and Directory Operations Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 5: Working with System Events Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 6: Understanding Pipes in Inter-Process Communication Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 7: Unix Sockets Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Part 3: Performance Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 8: Memory Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 9: Analyzing Performance Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Part 4: Connected Apps Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 10: Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 11: Telemetry Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 12: Distributing Your Apps Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Part 5: Going Beyond Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 13: Capstone Project – Distributed Cache Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 14: Effective Coding Practices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 15: Stay Sharp with System Programming Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
(5 Ratings)
5 star 100%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Franc Bozic Jul 31, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Feefo Verified review Feefo
Rajesh Thiyagarajan Aug 03, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The book’s practical approach, with real-world examples and hands-on projects, makes complex concepts come to life. Its clear structure, starting from basics to advanced topics, ensures a smooth learning curve.The chapters on concurrency and network programming are particularly valuable, addressing critical areas in modern development. The author's passion for Go and insightful tips on idiomatic practices have significantly influenced how I write code.Overall, this book is well-written, comprehensive, and full of practical wisdom. It has expanded my technical skills and enthusiasm for Go. Highly recommended!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
soni prashil Aug 17, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I was in search of a book where I can learn GO and I come across with this book. I received great in depth learning from this book.I highly recommend this book for GO.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Suhaib Sep 09, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
System Programming in Go offers a practical exploration of system programming using a language often neglected in the systems domain. When one thinks of System Programming, go is probably not the first language that comes to mind. Go's concurrency features, garbage collection (as well as other features) make it ideal for applications such as backend web development. Even as a relatively experienced go developer I benefited greatly from this book.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Vijay Aug 09, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
System Programming Essentials with Go” is a gem for anyone diving into Go. As a software engineer with a background in C++ and Java, I found this book to be a refreshing and enlightening read. The author does an excellent job of explaining complex concepts in a clear and straightforward manner, which really resonates with my preference for a strong foundation of knowledge before coding.The practical examples and hands-on exercises are fantastic. They made me feel more confident in applying what I’ve learned to real-world system programming tasks. I also loved how the book delves into Go’s philosophy and idiomatic practices, deepening my appreciation and understanding of the language.This book has significantly enhanced my programming skills, and I highly recommend it to both experienced developers and beginners eager to learn system programming with Go.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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