Top Golang Interview Questions and Answers (2024)

Golang, also known as Go was released in 2009 as an open source project. Many companies use Go for web development, network programming, DevOps tools, cloud services, and more.

Go is an easy language to learn with C-like syntax. It is also popular for its simplicity, efficiency, and robust performance. 

Let’s go through some Golang interview questions and answers.

1. What are the advantages of Golang?

Golang has many advantages making it a good choice for building complex projects.

1. Simplicity, with a clean and concise syntax
2. It has a fast compilation and fast execution times
3. Concurrency in Go is built-in
4. Strong standard library and cross-platform support
5. Go has automatic memory management
6. It has static typing that improves code reliability
7. It has efficient dependency management

2. What are packages in Go?

Goroutine is a fundamental element of Go that enables concurrency. They are lightweight, managed threads that can perform multiple tasks simultaneously. Goroutines are managed by Go Runtime rather than the operating system. This allows you to create many Goroutines without causing much overhead.

A Go routine can be created using the keyword go followed by a function call.

3. What are packages in Go?

A package in Go is a collection of source files in the same directory compiled together. Packages are how code in Go is organized into logical units. 

Packages enable code reuse as they allow functionalities to be imported. Functions, variables, types, and constants defined in a source file are available in another source file within the same package. 

4. How does Go handle error reporting and handling?

Golang does not have a try/catch method for handling errors as in other programming languages. Instead, in Go, errors are values returned by functions. Errors are handled using the built-in error type used to represent the error. The error type in Go is implemented as an interface as follows:

5. How does Go achieve concurrency?

Concurrency in Go is achieved using Goroutines and channels. Goroutines are lightweight threads managed by Goruntime and they run concurrently with other Goroutines. 

Channels are used for synchronization and communication between Goroutines. They provide a safe and efficient way to send and receive values between goroutines.  

Goroutines and channels along with synchronization primitives and the select statement allow you to create concurrent programs.

6. What are maps in Go?

Maps are built-in data structures in Go that implement associative arrays. They store data in the form of key-value pairs such that each key is unique and points to a specific value. Maps have a dynamic size because they grow and shrink as new key-value pairs are added or removed. 

7. How do you declare a variable in Golang?

Variables in Golang are declared using the keyword ‘var’. The ‘var’ keyword is followed by the name, type, and optionally the initial value of the variable. 

For example, to declare a variable ‘score’ with the value 100, you can use the following syntax:

A variable can also be declared using the := operator. In this case, you do not need to specify the type of the variable. The type is inferred based on the value assigned to it.

For the earlier example, the variable can be declared as follows:

8. How can you declare multiple variables of different types in a single line of code in Go?

This can be achieved as:

In this single line of code, three variables are declared using type inference. The variable ‘a’ is an ‘int’ with the value 34, the variable b is a float with the value 3.4, and c is a char type variable with the value ‘testString’.

The Go compiler infers the types of each variable depending on the values assigned. 

Conclusion

Whether you are just starting in Golang or seeking a deeper understanding of the language, mastering the basics will help you with your Golang interview preparations. Increase your chances of getting hired in your next Golang interview.