Go/Golang for Beginners

Go (or Golang) is not only the next-generation open source programming language developed by Google for creating systems, web and other applications. It is also the foundation of many leading DevOps and cloud tools such as Kubernetes, Docker or Terraform. In this beginner's course, you will learn the basics of Go and develop your first applications - ideal for anyone who is active in the areas of DevOps, virtualization or cloud native or would like to get started.

In the course you will get an introduction to Go and learn the core elements and syntax of the Go language. Learn which tools and possibilities Go has. You will learn the complete Go workflow, including the Go Playground, an online tool that enables Go development from the desktop. You will implement basic programming tasks with Go, including managing values, using mathematical operators, storing values as complex types, and managing program flow. You will also learn how to create reusable Go code, read and write files, and make simple web requests.

The Go programming language (Golang) was developed at Google, but is completely open source and free for anyone who wants to use it. It is also continuously being improved, with new versions being released every six months or so with new features, performance improvements and bug fixes. The syntax of Go is influenced by C and other C-like languages, but emphasizes greater simplicity and conciseness in its syntax. And it is a strongly typed language that compiles to operating system-specific binaries, resulting in truly blazing runtime speed.

This course not only provides a solid foundation of knowledge, but also hands-on exercises and projects that will strengthen your skills. You will be able to effectively use Go / Golang to develop fast and efficient applications.

• Introduction to Go / Golang
  • History and philosophy of Go
  • Why Go is popular in DevOps and cloud-native environments
  • Installation and setup of the development environment
  • First steps: “Hello World” and the Go Playground
• Go / Golang programming basics
  • Data types, variables and constants
  • Control structures: conditions and loops
  • Functions and error handling
  • Working with complex data types: Arrays, slices, maps
• Modularization and reusability in Go / Golang
  • Packages and modules in Go
  • Importing and using external libraries
  • Best practices for structured Go projects
• Go / Golang in the context of DevOps and cloud-native applications
  • Overview of DevOps tools written in Go: Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Prometheus
  • Creating simple CLI tools with Go
  • Introduction to developing Kubernetes operators with Go
  • Using Go to automate infrastructure tasks
• Working with files, networks and APIs with Go / Golang
  • File operations: Reading and writing
  • HTTP servers and clients in Go
  • Processing JSON and other data formats
  • Creating simple RESTful APIs
• Testing, debugging and deployment in Go / Golang
  • Introduction to testing with Go
  • Debugging tools and techniques
  • Cross-compilation and deployment of Go applications
  • Integration with CI/CD pipelines
• Practical exercises and projects with Go / Golang
  • Developing a simple CLI tool to automate a DevOps task
  • Creating a small web server with RESTful API
  • Optional: Developing a simple Kubernetes operator

The detailed digital documentation package, consisting of an e-book and PDF, is included in the price of the course.

The course is aimed at anyone who needs a quick introduction to the basic concepts of programming and working with Go/Golang due to increasingly changing requirements.

For Go, there are so-called "playgrounds" for learning the language via a browser: https://go.dev/play/.

The installation instructions including the requirements can be found at https://go.dev/dl/.