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Continue Core Concepts of Go for API Development

· One min read
Gretchun Kim
Gretchun Kim
SharePoint Architect, Loop Logic Specialist

Extend from the last blog post, here are more rules to live by when writing Go code for API development. Three more rules to go.

Rule 4: Dependencies point inward, not sideways High-level packages depend on lower-level ones, never the other way around.

  • api can depend on store
  • store can depend on model
  • model depends on nothing

Rule 5: Data shapes travel, behavior stays close to the data

Structs can move across layers, but logic should live where it naturally belongs.

Rule 6: Make illegal states unrepresentable Design types so invalid situations can’t exist in the first place.

Examples:

Use type Slug string instead of string

Use nil pointers to represent absence intentionally

Prefer time.Time over strings

Avoid maps where a struct would express meaning

This rule dramatically reduces defensive code and clarifying questions later.

In Go, types are your first line of validation, not runtime checks.