First class functions in Go

Question

I come from JavaScript which has first class function support. For example you can:

• pass a function as a parameter to another function
• return a function f

Answer 1

Just a brainteaser with recursive function definition for chaining middlewares in a web app.

First, the toolbox:

func MakeChain() (Chain, http.Handler) {
    nop := http.HandlerFunc(func(res http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {})
    var list []Middleware
    var final http.Handler = nop
    var f Chain
    f = func(m Middleware) Chain {
        if m != nil {
            list = append(list, m)
        } else {
            for i := len(list) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
                mid := list[i]

                if mid == nil {
                    continue
                }

                if next := mid(final); next != nil {
                    final = next
                } else {
                    final = nop
                }
            }

            if final == nil {
                final = nop
            }
            return nil
        }
        return f
    }
    return f, final
}

type (
    Middleware func(http.Handler) http.Handler
    Chain      func(Middleware) Chain
)

As you see type Chain is a function that returns another function of the same type Chain (How first class is that!).

Now some tests to see it in action:

func TestDummy(t *testing.T) {
    c, final := MakeChain()
    c(mw1(`OK!`))(mw2(t, `OK!`))(nil)
    log.Println(final)

    w1 := httptest.NewRecorder()
    r1, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "/api/v1", nil)
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    final.ServeHTTP(w1, r1)
}

func mw2(t *testing.T, expectedState string) func(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
    return func(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
        return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
            val := r.Context().Value(contextKey("state"))
            sval := fmt.Sprintf("%v", val)
            assert.Equal(t, sval, expectedState)
        })
    }
}

func mw1(initialState string) func(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
    return func(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
        return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
            ctx := context.WithValue(r.Context(), contextKey("state"), initialState)
            next.ServeHTTP(w, r.WithContext(ctx))
        })
    }
}

type contextKey string

Again, this was just a brainteaser to show we can use first class functions in Go in different ways. Personally I use chi nowadays as router and for handling middlewares.