Go REST Guide. The Standard Library
Summary
In this article, I explore building a Go REST API using the standard library. I begin by setting up a simple “Hello World” server and then progressively implement CRUD operations for a sample recipe API. You will learn about key components such as http.ServeMux
for request routing, creating custom HTTP handlers, and structuring your Go application effectively with separate packages for models and storage interfaces. I also cover implementing generic error handling and detailed handlers for creating, listing, retrieving, updating, and deleting recipes. Furthermore, I demonstrate how to perform integration testing using Go’s httptest
package. While the standard library offers a native way to build web applications, I highlight its limitations for complex REST APIs, hinting at the need for third-party frameworks, which will be the focus of the next articles in this series.
Key Concepts
- Go Standard Library for Web Development: How Go’s built-in
net/http
package can be used to create HTTP servers and handle requests. - HTTP Server and Routing (
http.ServeMux
): Understanding how to instantiate a request multiplexer and register URI patterns to dispatch requests to specific handlers. - HTTP Handlers (
http.Handler
Interface): Implementing theServeHTTP
method within a struct to process incoming HTTP requests and generate responses. - REST API Design Principles: Applying CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) to a resource (
/recipes
). - Application Structuring: Organizing Go code into packages (e.g.,
recipes
for business logic and data models) and using interfaces for data storage abstraction. - JSON Handling: Encoding and decoding JSON payloads using
json.NewDecoder
andjson.Marshal
. - URL Slugification: Using external packages like
gosimple/slug
to create URL-friendly resource IDs. - Error Handling: Implementing generic error handlers for
InternalServerError
andNotFound
responses. - Integration Testing (
httptest
): Writing comprehensive tests for REST API endpoints using Go’shttptest
package.
References
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