System Programming Essentials with Go

Go beyond web development to learn system programming, building secure, concurrent, and efficient applications with Go's unique system programming capabilities

Key Features

• Get a deep understanding of how Go simplifies system-level memory management and concurrency
• Gain expert guidance on essential topics like file operations, process management, and network programming
• Learn cross-platform system programming and how to build applications that interact directly with the OS

Book Description

Alex Rios, a seasoned Go developer and active community builder, shares his 15 years of expertise in designing large-scale systems through this book. It masterfully cuts through complexity, enabling you to build efficient and secure applications with Go's streamlined syntax and powerful concurrency features.

In this book, you’ll learn how Go, unlike traditional system programming languages (C/C++), lets you focus on the problem by prioritizing readability and elevating developer experience with features like automatic garbage collection and built-in concurrency primitives, which remove the burden of low-level memory management and intricate synchronization.

Through hands-on projects, you'll master core concepts like file I/O, process management, and inter-process communication to automate tasks and interact with your system efficiently. You'll delve into network programming in Go, equipping yourself with the skills to build robust, distributed applications. This book goes beyond the basics by exploring modern practices like logging and tracing for comprehensive application monitoring, and advance to distributed system design using Go to prepare you to tackle complex architectures.

By the end of this book, you'll emerge as a confident Go system programmer, ready to craft high-performance, secure applications for the modern world.

What you will learn

• Understand the fundamentals of system programming using Go
• Grasp the concepts of goroutines, channels, data races, and managing concurrency in Go
• Manage file operations and inter-process communication (IPC)
• Handle USB drives and Bluetooth devices and monitor peripheral events for hardware automation
• Familiarize yourself with the basics of network programming and its application in Go
• Implement logging, tracing, and other telemetry practices
• Construct distributed cache and approach distributed systems using Go

Who this book is for

This book is for software engineers looking to expand their understanding of system programming concepts. Professionals with a coding foundation seeking profound knowledge of system-level operations will also greatly benefit. Additionally, individuals interested in advancing their system programming skills, whether experienced developers or those transitioning to the field, will find this book indispensable.

Table of Contents

1. Why Go?
2. Refreshing Concurrency and Parallelism
3. Understanding System Calls
4. File and Directory Operations
5. Working with System Events
6. Understanding Pipes in Inter-Process Communication
7. Hardware Automation
8. Memory Management
9. Analysing Performance
10. Networking
11. Telemetry
12. Distributing Your Apps
13. Capstone Project - Distributed Cache
14. Effective Coding Practices
15. Stay Sharp with System Programming

Alex Rios is an established Brazilian software engineer with a 15-year track record of success in large-scale solution development. He specializes in Go and creates high-throughput systems that address diverse needs across fintech, telecom, and gaming industries. As a Staff Engineer at Stone Co., Alex applies his expertise using unconventional system designs, ensuring top-notch delivery. Also, he uses his expertise to evaluate books and publications as a technical reviewer. He is an enthusiastic community member, actively participating in its growth and development as Curitiba's Go meetup organizer. His dedication is evident in his regular presence as a speaker at major national tech events like GopherCon Brazil.