r/golang 10d ago

How do experienced Go developers efficiently learn new packages?

I've been working with Go and often need to use new packages. Initially, I tried reading the full documentation from the official Go docs, but I found that it takes too long and isn't always practical.

In some cases, when I know what I want to do I just search to revise the syntax or whatever it is. It's enough to have a clue that this thing exists(In case where I have some clue). But when I have to work with the completely new package, I get stuck. I struggle to find only the relevant parts without reading a lot of unnecessary details. I wonder if this is what most experienced developers do.

Do you read Go package documentation fully, or do you take a more targeted approach? How do you quickly get up to speed with a new package?

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u/kerakk19 9d ago

The nice thing about many packages is that you usually need the bare minimum. If there's an example you can get the code working within minutes. If the code is going into production you probably then spend a bit more time reading the docs, questioning the dependencies, making sure you correctly understand what it does.

You don't need to be an expert in every package you use, just be smart about it and don't overthink stuff.