Atlas Whoff

Posted on Apr 7 • Edited on Apr 9

Go for Node.js Developers: HTTP Servers, Goroutines, Database Access, and Error Handling

#go #backend #node #programming

Go is the language of infrastructure: fast, statically typed, excellent concurrency, and a single binary output. For developers coming from Node.js, the mental model shift is significant. Here's what you need to know.

Why Go for Backend Services

Performance: 10-50x faster than Node.js for CPU-bound work
Memory efficiency: Much lower memory footprint
Concurrency: Goroutines are cheaper than threads or async callbacks
Single binary: Compile to one binary, no runtime dependencies
Fast compilation: Compile times measured in seconds, not minutes

When to use Go:

API services with high throughput requirements
CLI tools
Background workers processing large queues
Services where memory efficiency matters (containers, serverless)

Basic HTTP Server

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "log"
    "net/http"
)

type User struct {
    ID    string `json:"id"`
    Name  string `json:"name"`
    Email string `json:"email"`
}

func handleGetUser(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    user := User{ID: "1", Name: "Alice", Email: "alice@example.com"}
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(user)
}

func main() {
    http.HandleFunc("/users/", handleGetUser)
    log.Println("Server starting on :8080")
    log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":8080", nil))
}

Chi Router for Production

import "github.com/go-chi/chi/v5"

func main() {
    r := chi.NewRouter()
    r.Use(middleware.Logger)
    r.Use(middleware.Recoverer)
    r.Use(middleware.RealIP)

    r.Get("/health", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        w.Write([]byte("ok"))
    })

    r.Route("/api/v1", func(r chi.Router) {
        r.Use(AuthMiddleware)
        r.Get("/users/{id}", GetUser)
        r.Post("/users", CreateUser)
        r.Delete("/users/{id}", DeleteUser)
    })

    http.ListenAndServe(":8080", r)
}

Goroutines for Concurrency

// Fan-out: fetch multiple resources concurrently
func getUserData(userID string) (UserData, error) {
    var wg sync.WaitGroup
    var profile Profile
    var orders []Order
    var profileErr, ordersErr error

    wg.Add(2)

    go func() {
        defer wg.Done()
        profile, profileErr = getProfile(userID)
    }()

    go func() {
        defer wg.Done()
        orders, ordersErr = getOrders(userID)
    }()

    wg.Wait()

    if profileErr != nil {
        return UserData{}, profileErr
    }
    return UserData{Profile: profile, Orders: orders}, ordersErr
}

Database with sqlx

import "github.com/jmoiron/sqlx"

type User struct {
    ID        string    `db:"id"`
    Name      string    `db:"name"`
    Email     string    `db:"email"`
    CreatedAt time.Time `db:"created_at"`
}

func GetUser(db *sqlx.DB, id string) (*User, error) {
    var user User
    err := db.Get(&user, "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1", id)
    if err == sql.ErrNoRows {
        return nil, ErrNotFound
    }
    return &user, err
}

func CreateUser(db *sqlx.DB, name, email string) (*User, error) {
    var user User
    err := db.QueryRowx(
        "INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ($1, $2) RETURNING *",
        name, email,
    ).StructScan(&user)
    return &user, err
}

Error Handling (The Go Way)

// Go errors are values, not exceptions
func processOrder(orderID string) error {
    order, err := getOrder(orderID)
    if err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("getting order: %w", err) // wrap with context
    }

    if err := validateOrder(order); err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("validating order %s: %w", orderID, err)
    }

    return nil
}

// Custom error types
type NotFoundError struct {
    Resource string
    ID       string
}

func (e *NotFoundError) Error() string {
    return fmt.Sprintf("%s with id %s not found", e.Resource, e.ID)
}

// Check error type
var notFound *NotFoundError
if errors.As(err, &notFound) {
    http.Error(w, notFound.Error(), http.StatusNotFound)
}

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