Go Language Interview Questions and Answers

Q1. What is Go language?

Ans: Go is an open-source programming language developed by Google, designed for efficient and concurrent system programming.

Q2. What are some key features of Go?

Ans: Go features include simplicity, efficiency, built-in concurrency, garbage collection, strong typing, and a rich standard library.

Q3. What is a goroutine in Go?

Ans: Goroutines are lightweight threads in Go that allow concurrent execution of functions, enabling efficient concurrent programming.

Q4. How do you handle errors in Go?

Ans: Go uses explicit error handling by returning errors as values. Developers typically check for errors and handle them accordingly.

Q5. What are channels used for in Go?

Ans: Channels are used for communication and synchronization between goroutines. They allow safe data exchange and coordination.

Q6. What is the difference between defer and panic in Go?

Ans: "defer" is used to schedule a function call to be executed when the surrounding function completes, while "panic" is used to trigger a runtime error.

Q7. How do you perform unit testing in Go?

Ans: Go provides a built-in testing package. Unit tests are written as functions with names beginning with "Test" and can be executed using the "go test" command.

Q8. Explain what a pointer is in Go.

Ans: A pointer in Go is a variable that holds the memory address of another value. It is used to indirectly access and modify data.

Q9. What is a slice in Go?

Ans: A slice is a dynamic and flexible wrapper over an array. It allows efficient and convenient operations on sequences of data.

Q10. How does Go handle garbage collection?

Ans: Go has a garbage collector that automatically manages memory allocation and deallocation, freeing developers from manual memory management tasks.

Q11. What are interfaces in Go?

Ans: Interfaces in Go define a set of methods that a type must implement. They allow polymorphism and help achieve loose coupling in code.

Q12. How do you handle concurrency in Go?

Ans: Go provides goroutines and channels for concurrent programming. Goroutines allow lightweight concurrency, and channels facilitate communication and synchronization between goroutines.

Q13. How do you handle race conditions in Go?

Ans: Go provides synchronization primitives like mutexes and atomic operations to prevent race conditions. Proper use of these mechanisms helps ensure safe concurrent access to shared data.

Q14. What is the difference between a struct and an array in Go?

Ans: A struct is a composite data type that can contain named fields of different types, while an array is a fixed-size collection of elements of the same type.

Q15. Explain the difference between a value receiver and a pointer receiver in Go.

Ans: A value receiver in Go operates on a copy of the value, while a pointer receiver operates on the actual value. Pointer receivers can modify the value they point to.

Q16. How do you handle timeouts in Go?

Ans: Go provides a "time" package that allows setting timeouts for operations. Timers and contexts can be used to implement timeouts effectively.

Q17. What is the purpose of the init() function in Go?

Ans: The init() function is a special function in Go that is executed automatically before the program starts. It is often used for initialization tasks.

Q18. How do you handle file I/O in Go?

Ans: Go's "os" and "io" packages provide functions for file handling and I/O operations. Developers can open, read, write, and manipulate files using these packages.

Q19. Explain the defer, panic, and recover mechanism in Go.

Ans: "defer" schedules a function call to be executed when the surrounding function completes, "panic" triggers a runtime error, and "recover" is used to catch and handle panics.

Q20. How do you handle JSON serialization and deserialization in Go?

Ans: Go provides the "encoding/json" package for JSON operations. It allows encoding Go data structures to JSON and decoding JSON into Go types.

Q21. What is the purpose of the blank identifier () in Go?

Ans: The blank identifier () is used to discard values returned by a function when you are not interested in using or assigning them.

Q22. How do you handle concurrent access to shared resources in Go?

Ans: Go provides synchronization primitives such as mutexes, read/write locks, and atomic operations to handle concurrent access to shared resources safely.

Q23. How does Go handle error handling compared to other languages?

Ans: Go promotes explicit error handling by returning errors as values. It encourages developers to check and handle errors, improving code reliability and robustness.

Q24. What is the role of the "go mod" command in Go?

Ans: The "go mod" command is used for managing dependencies in Go projects. It allows developers to define and manage dependencies using a go.mod file.

Q25. Explain the concept of defer chaining in Go.

Ans: Defer chaining is the ability to stack multiple deferred function calls. When a function with deferred calls completes, the deferred functions are executed in a "last in, first out" order.