Go: Design Patterns for Real-World Projects

Go identifiers

Go identifiers are used to name program elements including packages, variables, functions, and types. The following summarizes some attributes about identifiers in Go:

• Identifiers support the Unicode character set
• The first position of an identifier must be a letter or an underscore
• Idiomatic Go favors mixed caps (camel case) naming
• Package-level identifiers must be unique across a given package
• Identifiers must be unique within a code block (functions, control statements)

The blank identifier

The Go compiler is particularly strict about the use of declared identifiers for variables or packages. The basic rule is: you declare it, you must use it. If you attempt to compile code with unused identifiers such as variables or named packages, ...