8.5 Summary

In this chapter, I introduced you to several mainstream web application development models. In section 8.1, I described the basics of network programming sockets. Because of the rapid evolution of network technology and infrastructure, and given that the Socket is the cornerstone of these changes, you must master the concepts behind socket programming in order to be a competent web developer. In section 8.2, I described HTML5 WebSockets which support full-duplex communications between client and server and eliminate the need for polling with AJAX. In section 8.3, we implemented a simple application using the REST architecture, which is particularly suitable for the development of network APIs; due to the rapid rise of mobile applications, I believe that RESTful APIs will be an ongoing trend. In section 8.4, we learned about Go RPCs.

Go provides excellent support for the four kinds of development methods mentioned above. Note that the net package and its sub-packages is the place where Go’s network programming tools Go reside. If you want a more in-depth understanding of the relevant implementation details, you should try reading the source code of those packages.