Top Titles For Go Programmers
Written by Kay Ewbank   
Monday, 28 March 2022

Go is an easy-to-use but surprisingly powerful language that you could call a modern version of C. It has a clean and simple structure that is said to be statically typed, but it behaves like a dynamically typed language. While it compiles to native code, it is as easy to work with as an interpreted language.  In this guide, we've highlighted the best of the Go books that we've reviewed on I Programmer.

I Programmer covers hundreds of programming titles per year, good and bad, to make it easier for you to find the right ones. Our Programmer's Bookshelves aim to highlight the best.

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If you want to read more of the original review click in the link in each title. The thumbnails of the book jacket in the side panel provide links to the Amazon website.

If you just want to view the book's product details (without making a purchase) click in the top portion of the thumbnail to open the book's product details page. If you do decide to buy a book via Amazon, accessing it from a link on I Programmer means that we are credited with a few cents - so thanks to all of you who support us in this way.

Go Programming In Easy Steps

Author: Mike McGrath
Publisher: In Easy Steps
Pages: 192
ISBN: 978-1840789195

 

Mike James awarded this title the maximum five stars, saying that overall this is a great introduction to Go if you are in a hurry and not a complete dummy. He said that while it won't make you an expert, it will get you more than started. It doesn't have any large scale examples, though Mike considers this is a plus point. It is also too short to cover everything, but for its size it covers enough.

Highly recommended if you want a Go refresher.

 

Go Programming Language For Dummies

Author: Wei-Meng Lee
Publisher: For Dummies
Pages: 336
ISBN: 978-1119786191

This recommendation by Mike James is made even though he says this isn't a book for dummies. Giving the title four stars, Mike says this is a fairly reasonable book on Go, well-written and to the point.

 

Mike says overall it's a fairly standard account of a language to anyone who can already program, but it isn't as consice as you might wish for in the early chapters.  It doesn't do a good job selling Go's advantages as a language  and it doesn't deal wtih Go as a system programming language. You might want a copy if some of the practical examples correspond to things you want to do.

The Go Programming Language

Author: Alan A. A. Donovan and Brian W. Kernighan
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Pages:400
ISBN: 978-0134190440

When reviewing this book, Harry Fairhead asked the question "Can Brian Kenighan do for Go what he did for C?" Brian W. Kernighan wrote the classic guide to C, back in the days when it was a new language, co-authoring it with Dennis Richie, one of C's creators. There is a lot about Go that is similar to C, and indeed this book has similarities to the classic "The C Programming Language" beyond the form of the title. 

 

Harry's conclusion was that this book was easy to read wasn't as useful as the original classic K&R book on C. Harry learned C from the K&R book over a weekend, but couldn't say that the Go book transformed him overnight into a Go programmer in anything like the same way. Awarding four stars, Harry described this title as concise, but says there is so much more to say concluding: "After reading it you can probably write Go programs, but probably not with confidence - there is too much to remember."

 

The Go Programming Language Phrasebook

Author: David Chisnall
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Pages: 288
ISBN: 978-0321817143

Don't make the mistake of thinking that this "phrasebook" is just some sort of reference. This is one of the best introductions to the Go language you can find and why it is packaged in this way is a mystery, according to Mike James, who gave the book a 4.5 star rating.

He says you can expect to read this book from cover to cover despite its tiny size and being labeled as a "phrasebook", as it's more than just a cookbook or a list of idioms in Go. Rather, it's a perfectly readable introduction to the language that has been misleadingly packaged.

 

Mike says that if you are looking for a quick introduction to Go and you are a reasonably competent programmer then this is highly recommended. However, he hopes the publisher produces a revised work with bigger pages and a better title!

 

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Programming with Rust

Author:  Donis Marshall
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Pages: 400
ISBN: 978-0137889655
Print: 0137889658
Kindle: B0CLL1TGVT
Audience: Programmers wanting to learn Rust
Rating: 3
Reviewer: Mike James
Rust is the language we all want to learn at the moment so this is just in time.



Go Programming In Easy Steps

Author: Mike McGrath
Publisher: In Easy Steps
Date: January 2021
Pages: 192
ISBN: 978-1840789195
Print: 1840789190
Kindle: B08NF958NM
Audience: Non-programmers wanting to learn to code in Go
Rating: 5
Reviewer: Mike James
Getting going with Go - great idea!


More Reviews

<ASIN: 1840789190>
<ASIN: B08NF958NM>

<ASIN: 1119786193>
<ASIN: B0921HHN48>

<ASIN: 0134190440>
<ASIN: B0184N7WWS>

<ASIN: 0321817141>
<ASIN: B008066S9I>

 

Last Updated ( Monday, 28 March 2022 )