Early Access Book Review: Go In Action

I've had an interest in Google's Go since it was announced with great fanfare a few years back.  My bread-and-butter language is Java, but I'm painfully aware of the shortcomings of the language.  Once in a while I look at other languages for fun, hoping to find something that brings a little fun back to programming.  With this in mind, I recently picked up a copy of Manning's "Go In Action", in Manning Early Access Program (MEAP) form.

A MEAP book is released in stages, starting when just a few chapters are available.  Then as time goes on, more chapters are added and the reader gets notification that a new e-book can be downloaded.  (You've paid for the book just once, you get the updates free as the book progresses.)  If you catch a book in the early stages, it's kind of interesting to see what the author provides first.

In this case, "Go In Action" is bringing some language fundamentals in the first released chapters.  As you might expect, the first chapter introduces Go and explains the basics of what the language is like.  (i.e. static vs. dynamic typing, the main benefits of the language, some places where it would be appropriate and a few places where it might not.)

Chapter 2 introduces the basics of the language.  There are many small but clear examples, I found these especially informative.  The author explains things in a precise but compact manner.

The third and final chapter currently available deals with Go's use of interfaces and how they can be used to write flexible code.  This chapter demonstrated to me that the book will have substance beyond the basics, so I have high hopes the remaining chapters will provide more expert insights.

All things considered, I found this 3-chapter sneak peak to be a fun read, and one that whetted my appetite for the next chapters.  I'm looking forward to the next MEAP chapter drop!

The book can be found here.

Happy 'Go'ing!