The Go Programming Language (DRAFT) ---- Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, Ken Thompson ---- (July 8, 2008) This document is a semi-formal specification/proposal for a new systems programming language. The document is under active development; any piece may change substantially as design progresses; also there remain a number of unresolved issues. This draft document is unpublished and under active development. It is not ready for external review. Guiding principles ---- Go is a new systems programming language intended as an alternative to C++ at Google. Its main purpose is to provide a productive and efficient programming environment for compiled programs such as servers and distributed systems. The design is motivated by the following guidelines: - very fast compilation (1MLOC/s stretch goal); instantaneous incremental compilation - procedural - strongly typed - concise syntax avoiding repetition - few, orthogonal, and general concepts - support for threading and interprocess communication - garbage collection - container library written in Go - reasonably efficient (C ballpark) The language should be strong enough that the compiler and run time can be written in itself. Program structure ---- A Go program consists of a number of ``packages''. A package is built from one or more source files, each of which consists of a package specifier followed by import declarations followed by other declarations. There are no statements at the top level of a file. By convention, one package, by default called main, is the starting point for execution. It contains a function, also called main, that is the first function invoked by the run time system. If any package within the program contains a function init(), that function will be executed before main.main() is called. The details of initialization are still under development. Source files can be compiled separately (without the source code of packages they depend on), but not independently (the compiler does check dependencies by consulting the symbol information in compiled packages). Modularity, identifiers and scopes ---- A package is a collection of import, constant, type, variable, and function declarations. Each declaration associates an ``identifier'' with a program entity (such as a type). In particular, all identifiers in a package are either declared explicitly within the package, arise from an import statement, or belong to a small set of predefined identifiers (such as "int32"). A package may make explicitly declared identifiers visible to other packages by marking them as exported; there is no ``header file''. Imported identifiers cannot be re-exported. Scoping is essentially the same as in C: The scope of an identifier declared within a ``block'' extends from the declaration of the identifier (that is, the position immediately after the identifier) to the end of the block. An identifier shadows identifiers with the same name declared in outer scopes. Within a block, a particular identifier must be declared at most once. Typing, polymorphism, and object-orientation ---- Go programs are strongly typed. Certain values can also be polymorphic. The language provides mechanisms to make use of such polymorphic values type-safe. Interface types provide the mechanisms to support object-oriented programming. Different interface types are independent of each other and no explicit hierarchy is required (such as single or multiple inheritance explicitly specified through respective type declarations). Interface types only define a set of methods that a corresponding implementation must provide. Thus interface and implementation are strictly separated. An interface is implemented by associating methods with types. If a type defines all methods of an interface, it implements that interface and thus can be used where that interface is required. Unless used through a variable of interface type, methods can always be statically bound (they are not ``virtual''), and incur no runtime overhead compared to an ordinary function. [OLD Interface types, building on structures with methods, provide the mechanisms to support object-oriented programming. Different interface types are independent of each other and no explicit hierarchy is required (such as single or multiple inheritance explicitly specified through respective type declarations). Interface types only define a set of methods that a corresponding implementation must provide. Thus interface and implementation are strictly separated. An interface is implemented by associating methods with structures. If a structure implements all methods of an interface, it implements that interface and thus can be used where that interface is required. Unless used through a variable of interface type, methods can always be statically bound (they are not ``virtual''), and incur no runtime overhead compared to an ordinary function. END] Go has no explicit notion of classes, sub-classes, or inheritance. These concepts are trivially modeled in Go through the use of functions, structures, associated methods, and interfaces. Go has no explicit notion of type parameters or templates. Instead, containers (such as stacks, lists, etc.) are implemented through the use of abstract operations on interface types or polymorphic values. Pointers and garbage collection ---- Variables may be allocated automatically (when entering the scope of the variable) or explicitly on the heap. Pointers are used to refer to heap-allocated variables. Pointers may also be used to point to any other variable; such a pointer is obtained by "taking the address" of that variable. Variables are automatically reclaimed when they are no longer accessible. There is no pointer arithmetic in Go. Functions ---- Functions contain declarations and statements. They may be recursive. Functions may be anonymous and appear as literals in expressions. Multithreading and channels ---- Go supports multithreaded programming directly. A function may be invoked as a parallel thread of execution. Communication and synchronization is provided through channels and their associated language support. Values and references ---- All objects have value semantics, but their contents may be accessed through different pointers referring to the same object. For example, when calling a function with an array, the array is passed by value, possibly by making a copy. To pass a reference, one must explicitly pass a pointer to the array. For arrays in particular, this is different from C. There is also a built-in string type, which represents immutable strings of bytes. Syntax ---- The syntax of statements and expressions in Go borrows from the C tradition; declarations are loosely derived from the Pascal tradition to allow more comprehensible composability of types. Here is a complete example Go program that implements a concurrent prime sieve: package main // Send the sequence 2, 3, 4, ... to channel 'ch'. func Generate(ch *chan> int) { for i := 2; ; i++ { >ch = i // Send 'i' to channel 'ch'. } } // Copy the values from channel 'in' to channel 'out', // removing those divisible by 'prime'. func Filter(in *chan< int, out *chan> int, prime int) { for { i := out = i // Send 'i' to channel 'out'. } } } // The prime sieve: Daisy-chain Filter processes together. func Sieve() { ch := new(chan int); // Create a new channel. go Generate(ch); // Start Generate() as a subprocess. for { prime := = 128. Digits and Letters ---- oct_digit = { "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" } . dec_digit = { "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9" } . hex_digit = { "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9" | "a" | "A" | "b" | "B" | "c" | "C" | "d" | "D" | "e" | "E" | "f" | "F" } . letter = "A" | "a" | ... "Z" | "z" | "_" | non_ascii . All non-ASCII code points are considered letters; digits are always ASCII. Identifiers ---- An identifier is a name for a program entity such as a variable, a type, a function, etc. An identifier must not be a reserved word. identifier = letter { letter | dec_digit } . a _x ThisIsVariable9 αβ Reserved words ---- break fallthrough interface return case false iota select const for map struct chan func new switch continue go nil true default goto package type else if range var export import TODO: "len" is currently also a reserved word - it shouldn't be. Types ---- A type specifies the set of values that variables of that type may assume, and the operators that are applicable. There are basic types and composite types. Basic types ---- Go defines a number of basic types, referred to by their predeclared type names. These include traditional arithmetic types, booleans, strings, and a special polymorphic type. The arithmetic types are: uint8 the set of all unsigned 8-bit integers uint16 the set of all unsigned 16-bit integers uint32 the set of all unsigned 32-bit integers uint64 the set of all unsigned 64-bit integers int8 the set of all signed 8-bit integers, in 2's complement int16 the set of all signed 16-bit integers, in 2's complement int32 the set of all signed 32-bit integers, in 2's complement int64 the set of all signed 64-bit integers, in 2's complement float32 the set of all valid IEEE-754 32-bit floating point numbers float64 the set of all valid IEEE-754 64-bit floating point numbers float80 the set of all valid IEEE-754 80-bit floating point numbers Additionally, Go declares several platform-specific type aliases: ushort, short, uint, int, ulong, long, float, and double. The bit width of these types is ``natural'' for the respective types for the given platform. For instance, int is usually the same as int32 on a 32-bit architecture, or int64 on a 64-bit architecture. The integer sizes are defined such that short is at least 16 bits, int is at least 32 bits, and long is at least 64 bits (and ditto for the unsigned equivalents). Also, the sizes are such that short <= int <= long. Similarly, float is at least 32 bits, double is at least 64 bits, and the sizes have float <= double. Also, ``byte'' is an alias for uint8. An arithmetic type ``ptrint'' is also defined. It is an unsigned integer type that is the smallest natural integer type of the machine large enough to store the uninterpreted bits of a pointer value. Generally, programmers should use these types rather than the explicitly sized types to maximize portability. Other basic types include: bool the truth values true and false string immutable strings of bytes any polymorphic type Two reserved words, ``true'' and ``false'', represent the corresponding boolean constant values. Strings are described in a later section. [OLD The polymorphic ``any'' type can represent a value of any type. TODO: we need a section about any END] Numeric literals ---- Integer literals take the usual C form, except for the absence of the 'U', 'L', etc. suffixes, and represent integer constants. Character literals are also integer constants. Similarly, floating point literals are also C-like, without suffixes and in decimal representation only. An integer constant represents an abstract integer value of arbitrary precision. Only when an integer constant (or arithmetic expression formed from integer constants) is bound to a typed variable or constant is it required to fit into a particular size - that of the type of the variable. In other words, integer constants and arithmetic upon them is not subject to overflow; only finalization of integer constants (and constant expressions) can cause overflow. It is an error if the value of the constant or expression cannot be represented correctly in the range of the type of the receiving variable or constant. By extension, it is also possible to use an integer as a floating constant (such as 1 instead of 1.0) if it can be represented accurately, and vice versa (such as 1e9 instead of 1000000000). Floating point literals also represent an abstract, ideal floating point value that is constrained only upon assignment. sign = "+" | "-" . int_lit = [ sign ] unsigned_int_lit . unsigned_int_lit = decimal_int_lit | octal_int_lit | hex_int_lit . decimal_int_lit = ( "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9" ) { dec_digit } . octal_int_lit = "0" { oct_digit } . hex_int_lit = "0" ( "x" | "X" ) hex_digit { hex_digit } . float_lit = [ sign ] ( fractional_lit | exponential_lit ) . fractional_lit = { dec_digit } ( dec_digit "." | "." dec_digit ) { dec_digit } [ exponent ] . exponential_lit = dec_digit { dec_digit } exponent . exponent = ( "e" | "E" ) [ sign ] dec_digit { dec_digit } . 07 0xFF -44 +3.24e-7 The string type ---- The string type represents the set of string values (strings). Strings behave like arrays of bytes, with the following properties: - They are immutable: after creation, it is not possible to change the contents of a string. - No internal pointers: it is illegal to create a pointer to an inner element of a string. - They can be indexed: given string "s1", "s1[i]" is a byte value. - They can be concatenated: given strings "s1" and "s2", "s1 + s2" is a value combining the elements of "s1" and "s2" in sequence. - Known length: the length of a string "s1" can be obtained by the function/ operator "len(s1)". The length of a string is the number of bytes within. Unlike in C, there is no terminal NUL byte. - Creation 1: a string can be created from an integer value by a conversion; the result is a string containing the UTF-8 encoding of that code point. "string('x')" yields "x"; "string(0x1234)" yields the equivalent of "\u1234" - Creation 2: a string can by created from an array of integer values (maybe just array of bytes) by a conversion a [3]byte; a[0] = 'a'; a[1] = 'b'; a[2] = 'c'; string(a) == "abc"; Character and string literals ---- Character and string literals are almost the same as in C, with the following differences: - The encoding is UTF-8 - `` strings exist; they do not interpret backslashes - Octal character escapes are always 3 digits ("\077" not "\77") - Hexadecimal character escapes are always 2 digits ("\x07" not "\x7") This section is precise but can be skipped on first reading. The rules are: char_lit = "'" ( unicode_value | byte_value ) "'" . unicode_value = utf8_char | little_u_value | big_u_value | escaped_char . byte_value = octal_byte_value | hex_byte_value . octal_byte_value = "\" oct_digit oct_digit oct_digit . hex_byte_value = "\" "x" hex_digit hex_digit . little_u_value = "\" "u" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit . big_u_value = "\" "U" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit . escaped_char = "\" ( "a" | "b" | "f" | "n" | "r" | "t" | "v" | "\" | "'" | """ ) . A unicode_value takes one of four forms: * The UTF-8 encoding of a Unicode code point. Since Go source text is in UTF-8, this is the obvious translation from input text into Unicode characters. * The usual list of C backslash escapes: "\n", "\t", etc. * A `little u' value, such as "\u12AB". This represents the Unicode code point with the corresponding hexadecimal value. It always has exactly 4 hexadecimal digits. * A `big U' value, such as "\U00101234". This represents the Unicode code point with the corresponding hexadecimal value. It always has exactly 8 hexadecimal digits. Some values that can be represented this way are illegal because they are not valid Unicode code points. These include values above 0x10FFFF and surrogate halves. An octal_byte_value contains three octal digits. A hex_byte_value contains two hexadecimal digits. (Note: This differs from C but is simpler.) It is erroneous for an octal_byte_value to represent a value larger than 255. (By construction, a hex_byte_value cannot.) A character literal is a form of unsigned integer constant. Its value is that of the Unicode code point represented by the text between the quotes. 'a' 'ä' '本' '\t' '\000' '\007' '\377' '\x07' '\xff' '\u12e4' '\U00101234' String literals come in two forms: double-quoted and back-quoted. Double-quoted strings have the usual properties; back-quoted strings do not interpret backslashes at all. string_lit = raw_string_lit | interpreted_string_lit . raw_string_lit = "`" { utf8_char } "`" . interpreted_string_lit = """ { unicode_value | byte_value } """ . A string literal has type 'string'. Its value is constructed by taking the byte values formed by the successive elements of the literal. For byte_values, these are the literal bytes; for unicode_values, these are the bytes of the UTF-8 encoding of the corresponding Unicode code points. Note that "\u00FF" and "\xFF" are different strings: the first contains the two-byte UTF-8 expansion of the value 255, while the second contains a single byte of value 255. The same rules apply to raw string literals, except the contents are uninterpreted UTF-8. `abc` `\n` "hello, world\n" "\n" "" "Hello, world!\n" "日本語" "\u65e5本\U00008a9e" "\xff\u00FF" These examples all represent the same string: "日本語" // UTF-8 input text `日本語` // UTF-8 input text as a raw literal "\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e" // The explicit Unicode code points "\U000065e5\U0000672c\U00008a9e" // The explicit Unicode code points "\xe6\x97\xa5\xe6\x9c\xac\xe8\xaa\x9e" // The explicit UTF-8 bytes The language does not canonicalize Unicode text or evaluate combining forms. The text of source code is passed uninterpreted. If the source code represents a character as two code points, such as a combining form involving an accent and a letter, the result will be an error if placed in a character literal (it is not a single code point), and will appear as two code points if placed in a string literal. More about types ---- The static type of a variable is the type defined by the variable's declaration. The dynamic type of a variable is the actual type of the value stored in a variable at runtime. Except for variables of interface type, the static and dynamic type of variables is always the same. Variables of interface type may hold values of different types during execution. However, the dynamic type of the variable is always compatible with the static type of the variable. Types may be composed from other types by assembling arrays, maps, channels, structures, and functions. They are called composite types. Type = TypeName | ArrayType | ChannelType | InterfaceType | FunctionType | MapType | StructType | PointerType . TypeName = QualifiedIdent. Array types ---- [TODO: this section needs work regarding the precise difference between static, open and dynamic arrays] An array is a composite type consisting of a number of elements all of the same type, called the element type. The number of elements of an array is called its length. The elements of an array are designated by indices which are integers between 0 and the length - 1. An array type specifies arrays with a given element type and an optional array length. If the length is present, it is part of the type. Arrays without a length specification are called open arrays. Any array may be assigned to an open array variable with the same element type. Typically, open arrays are used as formal parameters for functions. ArrayType = "[" [ ArrayLength ] "]" ElementType . ArrayLength = Expression . ElementType = Type . [] uint8 [2*n] int [64] struct { x, y: int32; } [1000][1000] float64 The length of an array can be discovered at run time (or compile time, if its length is a constant) using the built-in special function len(): len(a) Map types ---- A map is a composite type consisting of a variable number of entries called (key, value) pairs. For a given map, the keys and values must each be of a specific type. Upon creation, a map is empty and values may be added and removed during execution. The number of entries in a map is called its length. [OLD A map whose value type is 'any' can store values of all types. END] MapType = "map" "[" KeyType "]" ValueType . KeyType = Type . ValueType = Type | "any" . map [string] int map [struct { pid int; name string }] *chan Buffer map [string] any Implementation restriction: Currently, only pointers to maps are supported. Struct types ---- Struct types are similar to C structs. Each field of a struct represents a variable within the data structure. StructType = "struct" "{" [ FieldDeclList [ ";" ] ] "}" . FieldDeclList = FieldDecl { ";" FieldDecl } . FieldDecl = IdentifierList Type . // An empty struct. struct {} // A struct with 5 fields. struct { x, y int; u float; a []int; f func(); } Compound Literals ---- Literals for compound data structures consist of the type of the constant followed by a parenthesized expression list. In effect, they are a conversion from expression list to compound value. TODO: Needs to be updated. Pointer types ---- Pointer types are similar to those in C. PointerType = "*" Type. Pointer arithmetic of any kind is not permitted. *int *map[string] *chan It is legal to write a pointer type (only) such as *T even if T is an incomplete type (i.e., either not yet fully defined or forward declared). This allows the construction of recursive types such as: type S struct { s *S } Together with a type forward declaration, mutually recursive types can be constructed such as: type S2 // forward declaration of S2 type S1 struct { s2 *S2 } type S2 struct { s1 *S1 } By the end of the package source, all forward-declared types must be fully declared if they are used. Channel types ---- A channel provides a mechanism for two concurrently executing functions to synchronize execution and exchange values of a specified type. Upon creation, a channel can be used both to send and to receive. By conversion or assignment, it may be restricted only to send or to receive; such a restricted channel is called a 'send channel' or a 'receive channel'. ChannelType = "chan" [ "<" | ">" ] ValueType . chan any // a generic channel chan int // a channel that can exchange only ints chan> float // a channel that can only be used to send floats chan< any // a channel that can receive (only) values of any type Channel variables always have type pointer to channel. It is an error to attempt to use a channel value and in particular to dereference a channel pointer. var ch *chan int; ch = new(chan int); // new returns type *chan int Function types ---- A function type denotes the set of all functions with the same signature. A method is a function with a receiver declaration. [OLD , which is of type pointer to struct. END] Functions can return multiple values simultaneously. FunctionType = "func" AnonymousSignature . AnonymousSignature = [ Receiver "." ] Parameters [ Result ] . Receiver = "(" identifier Type ")" . Parameters = "(" [ ParameterList ] ")" . ParameterList = ParameterSection { "," ParameterSection } . ParameterSection = IdentifierList Type . Result = Type | "(" ParameterList ")" . // Function types func () func (a, b int, z float) bool func (a, b int, z float) (success bool) func (a, b int, z float) (success bool, result float) // Method types func (p *T) . () func (p *T) . (a, b int, z float) bool func (p *T) . (a, b int, z float) (success bool) func (p *T) . (a, b int, z float) (success bool, result float) A variable can hold only a pointer to a function, not a function value. In particular, v := func() {} creates a variable of type *func(). To call the function referenced by v, one writes v(). It is illegal to dereference a function pointer. TODO: For consistency, we should require the use of & to get the pointer to a function: &func() {}. Function Literals ---- Function literals represent anonymous functions. FunctionLit = FunctionType Block . Block = "{" [ StatementList [ ";" ] ] "}" . A function literal can be invoked or assigned to a variable of the corresponding function pointer type. For now, a function literal can reference only its parameters, global variables, and variables declared within the function literal. // Function literal func (a, b int, z float) bool { return a*b < int(z); } // Method literal func (p *T) . (a, b int, z float) bool { return a*b < int(z) + p.x; } Unresolved issues: Are there method literals? How do you use them? Methods ---- A method is a function bound to a particular type T, where T is the type of the receiver. For instance, given type Point type Point struct { x, y float } the declaration func (p *Point) distance(scale float) float { return scale * (p.x*p.x + p.y*p.y); } creates a method of type *Point. Note that methods may appear anywhere after the declaration of the receiver type and may be forward-declared. When invoked, a method behaves like a function whose first argument is the receiver, but at the call site the receiver is bound to the method using the notation receiver.method() For instance, given a *Point variable pt, one may call pt.distance(3.5) Interface of a type ---- The interface of a type is defined to be the unordered set of methods associated with that type. Interface types ---- An interface type denotes a set of methods. InterfaceType = "interface" "{" [ MethodDeclList [ ";" ] ] "}" . MethodDeclList = MethodDecl { ";" MethodDecl } . MethodDecl = identifier Parameters [ Result ] . // A basic file interface. type File interface { Read(b Buffer) bool; Write(b Buffer) bool; Close(); } Any type whose interface has, possibly as a subset, the complete set of methods of an interface I is said to implement interface I. For instance, if two types S1 and S2 have the methods func (p T) Read(b Buffer) bool { return ... } func (p T) Write(b Buffer) bool { return ... } func (p T) Close() { ... } (where T stands for either S1 or S2) then the File interface is implemented by both S1 and S2, regardless of what other methods S1 and S2 may have or share. All types implement the empty interface: interface {} In general, a type implements an arbitrary number of interfaces. For instance, if we have type Lock interface { lock(); unlock(); } and S1 and S2 also implement func (p T) lock() { ... } func (p T) unlock() { ... } they implement the Lock interface as well as the File interface. [OLD It is legal to assign a pointer to a struct to a variable of compatible interface type. It is legal to assign an interface variable to any struct pointer variable but if the struct type is incompatible the result will be nil. END] [OLD The polymorphic "any" type ---- Given a variable of type "any", one can store any value into it by plain assignment or implicitly, such as through a function parameter or channel operation. Given an "any" variable v storing an underlying value of type T, one may: - copy v's value to another variable of type "any" - extract the stored value by an explicit conversion operation T(v) - copy v's value to a variable of type T Attempts to convert/extract to an incompatible type will yield nil. No other operations are defined (yet). Note that type interface {} is a special case that can match any struct type, while type any can match any type at all, including basic types, arrays, etc. TODO: details about reflection END] Equivalence of types --- TODO: We may need to rethink this because of the new ways interfaces work. Types are structurally equivalent: Two types are equivalent (``equal'') if they are constructed the same way from equivalent types. For instance, all variables declared as "*int" have equivalent type, as do all variables declared as "map [string] chan int". More precisely, two struct types are equivalent if they have exactly the same fields in the same order, with equal field names and types. For all other composite types, the types of the components must be equivalent. Additionally, for equivalent arrays, the lengths must be equal (or absent), and for channel types the mode must be equal (">", "<", or none). The names of receivers, parameters, or result values of functions are ignored for the purpose of type equivalence. For instance, the struct type struct { a int; b int; f *func (m *[32] float, x int, y int) bool } is equivalent to struct { a, b int; f *F } where "F" is declared as "func (a *[30 + 2] float, b, c int) (ok bool)". Finally, two interface types are equivalent if they both declare the same set of methods: For each method in the first interface type there is a method in the second interface type with the same method name and equivalent signature, and vice versa. Note that the declaration order of the methods is not relevant. Literals ---- Literal = char_lit | string_lit | int_lit | float_lit | FunctionLit | "nil" . Declarations ---- A declaration associates a name with a language entity such as a type, constant, variable, or function. Declaration = ConstDecl | TypeDecl | VarDecl | FunctionDecl | ExportDecl . TODO: specify range of visibility, scope rules. Const declarations ---- A constant declaration gives a name to the value of a constant expression. ConstDecl = "const" ( ConstSpec | "(" ConstSpecList [ ";" ] ")" ). ConstSpec = identifier [ Type ] [ "=" Expression ] . ConstSpecList = ConstSpec { ";" ConstSpec }. const pi float = 3.14159265 const e = 2.718281828 const ( one int = 1; two = 3 ) The constant expression may be omitted, in which case the expression is the last expression used after the "const" keyword. If no such expression exists, the constant expression cannot be omitted. Together with the 'iota' constant generator this permits light-weight declaration of ``enum'' values. const ( illegal = iota; eof; ident; string; number; ) TODO move/re-arrange section on iota. Type declarations ---- A type declaration introduces a name as a shorthand for a type. The name refers to an incomplete type until the type specification is complete. If no type is provided at all, the declaration effectively serves as a forward declaration. Incomplete types can be used together (and only) with pointer types. TypeDecl = "type" ( TypeSpec | "(" TypeSpecList [ ";" ] ")" ). TypeSpec = identifier [ Type ] . TypeSpecList = TypeSpec { ";" TypeSpec }. type List // forward declaration type IntArray [16] int type ( Point struct { x, y float }; Polar Point ) Since incomplete types can only be used with pointer types, in a type declaration a type may not refer to itself unless it does so with a pointer type. Variable declarations ---- A variable declaration creates a variable and gives it a type and a name. It may optionally give the variable an initial value; in some forms of declaration the type of the initial value defines the type of the variable. VarDecl = "var" ( VarSpec | "(" VarSpecList [ ";" ] ")" ) . VarSpec = IdentifierList ( Type [ "=" ExpressionList ] | "=" ExpressionList ) . VarSpecList = VarSpec { ";" VarSpec } . var i int var u, v, w float var k = 0 var x, y float = -1.0, -2.0 var ( i int; u, v = 2.0, 3.0 ) If the expression list is present, it must have the same number of elements as there are variables in the variable specification. If the variable type is omitted, an initialization expression (or expression list) must be present, and the variable type is the type of the expression value (in case of a list of variables, the variables assume the types of the corresponding expression values). If the variable type is omitted, and the corresponding initialization expression is a constant expression of abstract int or floating point type, the type of the variable is "int" or "float" respectively: var i = 0 // i has int type var f = 3.1415 // f has float type The syntax SimpleVarDecl = identifier ":=" Expression . is shorthand for var identifier = Expression. i := 0 f := func() int { return 7; } ch := new(chan int); Also, in some contexts such as "if", "for", or "switch" statements, this construct can be used to declare local temporary variables. Function and method declarations ---- Functions and methods have a special declaration syntax, slightly different from the type syntax because an identifier must be present in the signature. Implementation restriction: Functions and methods can only be declared at the global level. FunctionDecl = "func" NamedSignature ( ";" | Block ) . NamedSignature = [ Receiver ] identifier Parameters [ Result ] . func min(x int, y int) int { if x < y { return x; } return y; } func foo(a, b int, z float) bool { return a*b < int(z); } A method is a function that also declares a receiver. func (p *T) foo(a, b int, z float) bool { return a*b < int(z) + p.x; } func (p *Point) Length() float { return Math.sqrt(p.x * p.x + p.y * p.y); } func (p *Point) Scale(factor float) { p.x = p.x * factor; p.y = p.y * factor; } Functions and methods can be forward declared by omitting the body: func foo(a, b int, z float) bool; func (p *T) foo(a, b int, z float) bool; Initial values ---- When memory is allocated to store a value, either through a declaration or new(), and no explicit initialization is provided, the memory is given a default initialization. Each element of such a value is set to the ``zero'' for that type: "false" for booleans, "0" for integers, "0.0" for floats, '''' for strings, and nil for pointers. This intialization is done recursively, so for instance each element of an array of integers will be set to 0 if no other value is specified. These two simple declarations are equivalent: var i int; var i int = 0; After type T struct { i int; f float; next *T }; t := new(T); the following holds: t.i == 0 t.f == 0.0 t.next == nil Export declarations ---- Global identifiers may be exported, thus making the exported identifer visible outside the package. Another package may then import the identifier to use it. Export declarations must only appear at the global level of a source file and can name only globally-visible identifiers. That is, one can export global functions, types, and so on but not local variables or structure fields. Exporting an identifier makes the identifier visible externally to the package. If the identifier represents a type, the type structure is exported as well. The exported identifiers may appear later in the source than the export directive itself, but it is an error to specify an identifier not declared anywhere in the source file containing the export directive. ExportDecl = "export" ExportIdentifier { "," ExportIdentifier } . ExportIdentifier = QualifiedIdent . export sin, cos export math.abs TODO: complete this section TODO: export as a mechanism for public and private struct fields? Expressions ---- Expression syntax is based on that of C but with fewer precedence levels. Expression = BinaryExpr | UnaryExpr | PrimaryExpr . BinaryExpr = Expression binary_op Expression . UnaryExpr = unary_op Expression . PrimaryExpr = identifier | Literal | "(" Expression ")" | "iota" | Call | Conversion | Allocation | Expression "[" Expression [ ":" Expression ] "]" | Expression "." identifier | Expression "." "(" Type ")" . Call = Expression "(" [ ExpressionList ] ")" . Conversion = "convert" "(" Type [ "," ExpressionList ] ")" | ConversionType "(" [ ExpressionList ] ")" . ConversionType = TypeName | ArrayType | MapType | StructType | InterfaceType . Allocation = "new" "(" Type [ "," ExpressionList ] ")" . binary_op = log_op | rel_op | add_op | mul_op . log_op = "||" | "&&" . rel_op = "==" | "!=" | "<" | "<=" | ">" | ">=". add_op = "+" | "-" | "|" | "^". mul_op = "*" | "/" | "%" | "<<" | ">>" | "&". unary_op = "+" | "-" | "!" | "^" | "<" | ">" | "*" | "&" . Field selection and type assertions ('.') bind tightest, followed by indexing ('[]') and then calls and conversions. The remaining precedence levels are as follows (in increasing precedence order): Precedence Operator 1 || 2 && 3 == != < <= > >= 4 + - | ^ 5 * / % << >> & 6 + - ! ^ < > * & (unary) For integer values, / and % satisfy the following relationship: (a / b) * b + a % b == a and (a / b) is "truncated towards zero". There are no implicit type conversions: Except for the shift operators "<<" and ">>", both operands of a binary operator must have the same type. In particular, unsigned and signed integer values cannot be mixed in an expression without explicit conversion. The shift operators shift the left operand by the shift count specified by the right operand. They implement arithmetic shifts if the left operand is a signed integer, and logical shifts if it is an unsigned integer. The shift count must be an unsigned integer. There is no upper limit on the shift count. It is as if the left operand is shifted "n" times by 1 for a shift count of "n". Unary "^" corresponds to C "~" (bitwise complement). There is no "~" operator in Go. There is no "->" operator. Given a pointer p to a struct, one writes p.f to access field f of the struct. Similarly, given an array or map pointer, one writes p[i] to access an element. Given a function pointer, one writes p() to call the function. Other operators behave as in C. The "iota" keyword is discussed in a later section. Examples of primary expressions x 2 (s + ".txt") f(3.1415, true) Point(1, 2) new([]int, 100) m["foo"] s[i : j + 1] obj.color Math.sin f.p[i].x() Examples of general expressions +x 23 + 3*x[i] x <= f() ^a >> b f() || g() x == y + 1 && 0 The nil value ---- The keyword nil represents the ``zero'' value for a pointer type or interface type. The only operations allowed for nil are to assign it to a pointer or interface variable and to compare it for equality or inequality with a pointer or interface value. var p *int; if p != nil { print p } else { print "p points nowhere" } By default, pointers are initialized to nil. TODO: This needs to be revisited. [OLD TODO: how does this definition jibe with using nil to specify conversion failure if the result is not of pointer type, such as an any variable holding an int? TODO: if interfaces were explicitly pointers, this gets simpler. END] Allocation ---- The builtin-function new() allocates storage. The function takes a parenthesized operand list comprising the type of the value to allocate, optionally followed by type-specific expressions that influence the allocation. The invocation returns a pointer to the memory. The memory is initialized as described in the section on initial values. For instance, type S struct { a int; b float } new(S) allocates storage for an S, initializes it (a=0, b=0.0), and returns a value of type *S pointing to that storage. The only defined parameters affect sizes for allocating arrays, buffered channels, and maps. ap := new([]int, 10); # a pointer to an array of 10 ints aap := new([][]int, 5, 10); # a pointer to an array of 5 arrays of 10 ints c := new(chan int, 10); # a pointer to a channel with a buffer size of 10 m := new(map[string] int, 100); # a pointer to a map with space for 100 elements preallocated TODO: argument order for dimensions in multidimensional arrays Conversions ---- TODO: gri believes this section is too complicated. Instead we should replace this with: 1) proper conversions of basic types, 2) compound literals, and 3) type assertions. Conversions create new values of a specified type derived from the elements of a list of expressions of a different type. The most general conversion takes the form of a call to "convert", with the result type and a list of expressions as arguments: convert(int, PI * 1000.0); convert([]int, 1, 2, 3, 4); If the result type is a basic type, pointer type, or interface type, there must be exactly one expression and there is a specific set of permitted conversions, detailed later in the section. These conversions are called ``simple conversions''. TODO: if interfaces were explicitly pointers, this gets simpler. convert(int, 3.14159); convert(uint32, ^0); convert(interface{}, new(S)) convert(*AStructType, interface_value) For other result types - arrays, maps, structs - the expressions form a list of values to be assigned to successive elements of the resulting value. If the type is an array or map, the list may even be empty. Unlike in a simple conversion, the types of the expressions must be equivalent to the types of the elements of the result type; the individual values are not converted. For instance, if result type is []int, the expressions must be all of type int, not float or uint. (For maps, the successive elements must be key-value pairs). For arrays and struct types, if fewer elements are provided than specified by the result type, the missing elements are initialized to the respective ``zero'' value for that element type. These conversions are called ``compound conversions''. convert([]int) // empty array of ints convert([]int, 1, 2, 3) convert([5]int, 1, 2); // == convert([5]int, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0) convert(map[string]int, "1", 1, "2", 2) convert(struct{ x int; y float }, 3, sqrt(2.0)) TODO: are interface/struct and 'any' conversions legal? they're not equivalent, just compatible. convert([]any, 1, "hi", nil); There is syntactic help to make conversion expressions simpler to write. If the result type is of ConversionType (a type name, array type, map type, struct type, or interface type, essentially anything except a pointer), the conversion can be rewritten to look syntactically like a call to a function whose name is the type: int(PI * 1000.0); AStructType(an_interface_variable); struct{ x int, y float }(3, sqrt(2.0)) []int(1, 2, 3, 4); map[string]int("1", 1, "2", 2); This notation is convenient for declaring and initializing variables of composite type: primes := []int(2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13); Simple conversions can also be written as a parenthesized type after an expression and a period. Although intended for ease of conversion within a method call chain, this form works in any expression context. TODO: should it? var s *AStructType = vec.index(2).(*AStructType); fld := vec.index(2).(*AStructType).field; a := foo[i].(string); As said, for compound conversions the element types must be equivalent. For simple conversions, the types can differ but only some combinations are permitted: 1) Between integer types. If the value is a signed quantity, it is sign extended to implicit infinite precision; otherwise it is zero extended. It is then truncated to fit in the result type size. For example, uint32(int8(0xFF)) is 0xFFFFFFFF. The conversion always yields a valid value; there is no signal for overflow. 2) Between integer and floating point types, or between floating point types. To avoid overdefining the properties of the conversion, for now we define it as a ``best effort'' conversion. The conversion always succeeds but the value may be a NaN or other problematic result. TODO: clarify? 3) Conversions between interfaces and compatible interfaces and struct pointers. Invalid conversions (that is, conversions between incompatible types) yield nil values. TODO: is nil right here? Or should incompatible conversions fail immediately? 4) Conversions between ``any'' values and arbitrary types. Invalid conversions yield nil values. TODO: is nil right here? Or should incompatible conversions fail immediately? 5) Strings permit two special conversions. 5a) Converting an integer value yields a string containing the UTF-8 representation of the integer. string(0x65e5) // "\u65e5" 5b) Converting an array of uint8s yields a string whose successive bytes are those of the array. (Recall byte is a synonym for uint8.) string([]byte('h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o')) // "hello" Note that there is no linguistic mechanism to convert between pointers and integers. A library may be provided under restricted circumstances to acccess this conversion in low-level code but it will not be available in general. The constant generator 'iota' ---- Within a declaration, the keyword 'iota' represents successive elements of an integer sequence. It is reset to zero whenever the keyword 'const' introduces a new declaration and increments as each identifier is declared. For instance, 'iota' can be used to construct a set of related constants: const ( enum0 = iota; // sets enum0 to 0, etc. enum1 = iota; enum2 = iota ) const ( a = 1 << iota; // sets a to 1 (iota has been reset) b = 1 << iota; // sets b to 2 c = 1 << iota; // sets c to 4 ) const x = iota; // sets x to 0 const y = iota; // sets y to 0 TODO: should iota work in var, type, func decls too? Statements ---- Statements control execution. Statement = Declaration | SimpleStat | GoStat | ReturnStat | BreakStat | ContinueStat | GotoStat | Block | IfStat | SwitchStat | SelectStat | ForStat | RangeStat | SimpleStat = ExpressionStat | IncDecStat | Assignment | SimpleVarDecl . Statement lists ---- Semicolons are used to separate individual statements of a statement list. They are optional immediately before or after a closing curly brace "}", immediately after "++" or "--", and immediately before a reserved word. StatementList = Statement { [ ";" ] Statement } . TODO: This still seems to be more complicated then necessary. Expression statements ---- ExpressionStat = Expression . f(x+y) IncDec statements ---- IncDecStat = Expression ( "++" | "--" ) . a[i]++ Note that ++ and -- are not operators for expressions. Assignments ---- Assignment = SingleAssignment | TupleAssignment | Send . SingleAssignment = PrimaryExpr assign_op Expression . TupleAssignment = PrimaryExprList assign_op ExpressionList . PrimaryExprList = PrimaryExpr { "," PrimaryExpr } . Send = ">" Expression "=" Expression . assign_op = [ add_op | mul_op ] "=" . The left-hand side must be an l-value such as a variable, pointer indirection, or an array index. x = 1 *p = f() a[i] = 23 As in C, arithmetic binary operators can be combined with assignments: j <<= 2 A tuple assignment assigns the individual elements of a multi-valued operation, such as function evaluation or some channel and map operations, into individual variables. For instance, a tuple assignment such as v1, v2, v3 = e1, e2, e3 assigns the expressions e1, e2, e3 to temporaries and then assigns the temporaries to the variables v1, v2, v3. Thus a, b = b, a exchanges the values of a and b. The tuple assignment x, y = f() calls the function f, which must return two values, and assigns them to x and y. As a special case, retrieving a value from a map, when written as a two-element tuple assignment, assign a value and a boolean. If the value is present in the map, the value is assigned and the second, boolean variable is set to true. Otherwise, the variable is unchanged, and the boolean value is set to false. value, present = map_var[key] Analogously, receiving a value from a channel can be written as a tuple assignment. value, success = chan_ptr = value In assignments, the type of the expression must match the type of the left-hand side. Go statements ---- A go statement starts the execution of a function as an independent concurrent thread of control within the same address space. Unlike with a function, the next line of the program does not wait for the function to complete. GoStat = "go" Call . go Server() go func(ch chan> bool) { for { sleep(10); >ch = true; }} (c) Return statements ---- A return statement terminates execution of the containing function and optionally provides a result value or values to the caller. ReturnStat = "return" [ ExpressionList ] . There are two ways to return values from a function. The first is to explicitly list the return value or values in the return statement: func simple_f() int { return 2; } A function may return multiple values. The syntax of the return clause in that case is the same as that of a parameter list; in particular, names must be provided for the elements of the return value. func complex_f1() (re float, im float) { return -7.0, -4.0; } The second method to return values is to use those names within the function as variables to be assigned explicitly; the return statement will then provide no values: func complex_f2() (re float, im float) { re = 7.0; im = 4.0; return; } If statements ---- If statements have the traditional form except that the condition need not be parenthesized and the "then" statement must be in brace brackets. The condition may be omitted, in which case it is assumed to have the value "true". IfStat = "if" [ [ Simplestat ] ";" ] [ Condition ] Block [ "else" Statement ] . if x > 0 { return true; } An "if" statement may include the declaration of a single temporary variable. The scope of the declared variable extends to the end of the if statement, and the variable is initialized once before the statement is entered. if x := f(); x < y { return x; } else if x > z { return z; } else { return y; } TODO: We should fix this and move to: IfStat = "if" [ [ Simplestat ] ";" ] [ Condition ] Block { "else" "if" Condition Block } [ "else" Block ] . Switch statements ---- Switches provide multi-way execution. SwitchStat = "switch" [ [ Simplestat ] ";" ] [ Expression ] "{" { CaseClause } "}" . CaseClause = CaseList [ StatementList [ ";" ] ] [ "fallthrough" [ ";" ] ] . CaseList = Case { Case } . Case = ( "case" ExpressionList | "default" ) ":" . There can be at most one default case in a switch statement. The "fallthrough" keyword indicates that the control should flow from the end of this case clause to the first statement of the next clause. The expressions do not need to be constants. They will be evaluated top to bottom until the first successful non-default case is reached. If none matches and there is a default case, the statements of the default case are executed. switch tag { default: s3() case 0, 1: s1() case 2: s2() } A switch statement may include the declaration of a single temporary variable. The scope of the declared variable extends to the end of the switch statement, and the variable is initialized once before the switch is entered. switch x := f(); true { case x < 0: return -x default: return x } Cases do not fall through unless explicitly marked with a "fallthrough" statement. switch a { case 1: b(); fallthrough case 2: c(); } If the expression is omitted, it is equivalent to "true". switch { case x < y: f1(); case x < z: f2(); case x == 4: f3(); } Select statements ---- A select statement chooses which of a set of possible communications will proceed. It looks similar to a switch statement but with the cases all referring to communication operations. SelectStat = "select" "{" { CommClause } "}" . CommClause = CommCase [ StatementList [ ";" ] ] . CommCase = ( "default" | ( "case" ( SendCase | RecvCase) ) ) ":" . SendCase = Send . RecvCase = [ identifier "=" ] RecvExpr . RecvExpr = "<" Expression . The select statement evaluates all the channel (pointers) involved. If any of the channels can proceed, the corresponding communication and statements are evaluated. Otherwise, if there is a default case, that executes; if not, the statement blocks until one of the communications can complete. A channel pointer may be nil, which is equivalent to that case not being present in the select statement. If the channel sends or receives "any" or an interface type, its communication can proceed only if the type of the communication clause matches that of the dynamic value to be exchanged. If multiple cases can proceed, a uniform fair choice is made regarding which single communication will execute. var c, c1, c2 *chan int; select { case i1 = c2 = i2: printf("sent %d to c2\n", i2); default: printf("no communication\n"); } for { // send random sequence of bits to c select { case >c = 0: // note: no statement, no fallthrough, no folding of cases case >c = 1: } } var ca *chan any; var i int; var f float; select { case i =