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Importing Packages

We can import packages into the current Go file.

Importing One Package

To import a package, use double quotes, like the following: 

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import "packageName"

Importing Multiple Packages

To import multiple packages at once, encapsulate the list of packages in parentheses, and separate packages by newlines. 

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import (
    "package1"
    "package2"
    .
    .
    .
    "packageN"
)

Package Aliasing

If the developer prefers not to use the package's full name, the dev can alias package names : 

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import (
    alias1 "package1"
    alias2 "package2"
)

Useful Packages

I've compiled a list of packages that I found useful for various Go projects I've contributed to:

General utility

  • strconv : converts numeric types (bools, ints, floats, etc.) and certain strings types to and from ASCII strings
  • fmt : "implements formatted I/O with functions analogous to C's printf and scanf. The format 'verbs' are derived from C's but are simpler."
  • time : "provides functionality for measuring and displaying time"
  • sync "provides basic synchronization primitives such as mutual exclusion locks. "
  • strings : "implements simple functions to manipulate UTF-8 encoded strings."

Testing

  • testing: "provides support for automated testing of Go packages. It is intended to be used in concert with the go test command, which automates Go unit testing"

  • github.com/stretchr/testify/suite : "provides [testing] functionality that you might be used to from more common object oriented languages. With it, you can build a testing suite as a struct, build setup/teardown methods and testing methods on your struct, and run them with go test as per normal"

File I/O

  • bufio: "implements buffered I/O. It wraps an io.Reader or io.Writer object, creating another object (Reader or Writer) that also implements the interface but provides buffering and some help for textual I/O."
  • os : "provides a platform-independent interface to operating system functionality"

Networking

  • net : "provides a portable interface for network I/O, including TCP/IP, UDP, domain name resolution, and Unix domain sockets"
  • net/http : "provides HTTP client and server implementations."
  • github.com/gorilla/mux : "implements a request router and dispatcher for matching incoming requests to their respective handler."