Unlocking the Potential of Serverless Architecture with Golang published 9/3/2023 | 3 min read

Serverless architecture has been disrupting the tech industry in recent years. Its utility in scaling applications, reducing operational costs, and improving developers' productivity has made serverless an irresistible choice for modern software design. While numerous languages can be deployed in a serverless context, Golang has stood out for its fantastic performance and ease of use. This blog post dives into the power of Golang in serverless architecture, its benefits, and how to leverage it for your applications.

Why Golang for Serverless?

There are three core reasons why Golang is perfect for serverless architecture.

1. Performance: Golang's execution speed is one of the fastest among contemporary languages, far outstripping languages like Python and Ruby commonly used in serverless deployments. It's statically typed and compiled language characteristics contribute to its swift execution, making it an excellent choice for high-performing serverless functions.

2. Concurrency: Serverless architecture allows for high concurrency, and Golang's native support for concurrent process handling through Goroutines means it fits the serverless model perfectly, supporting multiple, simultaneous function execution with ease.

3. Ease of deployment: Golang compiles into a single binary, which simplifies the process associated with dependencies, making deployment infinitely easier than languages that require a runtime environment.

Leveraging Golang for Serverless on AWS

AWS Lambda's support for Golang further simplifies deployments and adds to Golang’s appeal for serverless. Let's see a basic "Hello, World" example:

1. Start by installing the AWS Lambda Go SDK:

     
   go get github.com/aws/aws-lambda-go/lambda
   
   

2. Create a new main.go file:

     
   package main
   
   import (
     "github.com/aws/aws-lambda-go/events"
     "github.com/aws/aws-lambda-go/lambda"
   )
   
   func handler(request events.APIGatewayProxyRequest) (events.APIGatewayProxyResponse, error) {
     return events.APIGatewayProxyResponse{
       Body:       "Hello, World",
       StatusCode: 200,
     }, nil
   }
   
   func main() {
     lambda.Start(handler)
   }
   
   

3. Compile your function into a binary:

     
   env GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o main main.go
   
   

4. Zip your compiled binary:

     
   zip deployment.zip main
   
   

5. Deploy your function to AWS Lambda using the AWS CLI:

     
   aws lambda create-function --function-name helloWorld --zip-file fileb://./deployment.zip --handler main --runtime provided --role arn:aws:iam::YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID:role/lambda_basic_execution
   
   

Voila, you have set up your first Golang serverless function! There's much more that Golang coupled with serverless has to offer. To explore further, you could consider adding a database, routing, or even consider building microservices.

Conclusion

Golang’s performance, simplicity, and efficiency make it an excellent choice for serverless architectures. While it might require a different mindset than traditional application development, the benefits afforded in scalability, cost, performance, and developer productivity make the transition worth it. Whether you're maintaining the infrastructure of enterprise-scale applications or developing a personal project, Golang and serverless architecture are undoubtedly worth your consideration. Explore, experiment, and reap the rich benefits they offer!

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