Project setup

Contents

How a Program becomes Go, in parts. Start with the introduction, then follow each part into the rendered output and the runtime it links against.

• Introduction — what the Go target is, and how to read the rest of this section.
• Capabilities — which high-level features are possible, built in or through a library.
• Example — a full program using every keyword, and the Go it renders to.
• Naming considerations — how Program's dotted names are carried into Go.
• Entry point — starting a program from main with its drivers.
• Drivers — the native drivers that provide the interface, console and network.
• Runtime — the Reactive and Context machinery the rendered code links against.
• Native modules — the hand-written Go behind NATIVE functions.
• Keywords — how each of Program's keywords renders to Go.
• Project setup — the files and commands to build and run the rendered program.
• Reserved words — the words Go keeps for itself, and how a colliding name is escaped.

The files

A rendered Go program is an ordinary Go module: a go.mod file and one package per top module, plus main.

my-app/
  go.mod                // module path + Go version
  main.go               // func main() { Program.Application(...) }
  reactive/             // the runtime package (Reactive + Context + drivers)
  ui/  maths/  ...       // one package per top module

// go.mod
module example.com/my-app

go 1.22

Build and run

The standard Go toolchain builds and runs it — no extra tooling.

go mod tidy            # resolve dependencies
go run .               # build and run
go build -o my-app .   # a standalone binary

The output is a single static binary, which is what makes Go a good fit for shipping a back-end service or a command-line tool built from a Program.