chai2010/go-ast-book

Analysis updated 2026-07-03

★ 5,510GoAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((go-ast-book))
    What it does
      Explains Go AST structure
      Teaches compiler internals
      Guides tool development
    Audience
      Go developers
      Chinese speakers
      Tool builders
    Use Cases
      Write custom linters
      Build code generators
      Create analysis tools
    Tech Stack
      Go language
      AST processing
      go fmt internals
    Content
      Free online reading
      Print edition available
      Companion project included

mindmap root((go-ast-book)) What it does Explains Go AST structure Teaches compiler internals Guides tool development Audience Go developers Chinese speakers Tool builders Use Cases Write custom linters Build code generators Create analysis tools Tech Stack Go language AST processing go fmt internals Content Free online reading Print edition available Companion project included

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Build a custom Go linter that checks your codebase for project-specific coding patterns.

USE CASE 2

Write a code generation tool that creates boilerplate Go code from a template or schema.

USE CASE 3

Create a Go static analysis tool that detects potential bugs by inspecting the syntax tree.

USE CASE 4

Learn how tools like go fmt and go doc work internally by studying the book's examples.

What is it built with?

How does it compare?

	chai2010/go-ast-book	getarcaneapp/arcane	kgateway-dev/kgateway
Stars	5,510	5,509	5,509
Language	Go	Go	Go
Setup difficulty	easy	moderate	hard
Complexity	4/5	3/5	4/5
Audience	developer	ops devops	ops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

Content is in Chinese, readers need Go installed to run code examples.

No license information is mentioned in the explanation.

In plain English

This repository contains the source material for a Chinese-language book about Go language syntax trees and abstract syntax tree (AST) processing. The book is titled "Go Language Customization Guide" and was originally called "Introduction to Go Syntax Trees." It is written for Go developers who want to understand how the Go compiler represents source code internally. An abstract syntax tree is the structured, tree-shaped representation a compiler builds when it reads source code. Tools like go fmt (the Go code formatter) and go doc (the documentation generator) work by reading this tree rather than raw text. Understanding how to read and manipulate the AST lets developers write their own code analysis tools, linters, code generators, and similar programs in Go. The book is available for free online reading on GitHub and the author's website. A print edition can be purchased from Chinese booksellers including JD.com and Dangdang. The README is written entirely in Chinese and is brief, directing readers to the online version for the full content. Three authors contributed to the book. The repository also references a companion project for readers who want to build a small Go-like language from scratch.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Using the go/ast package from go-ast-book, write a Go program that walks the AST of a .go file and prints the name and line number of every function declaration it finds.

Prompt 2

Help me write a Go linter using go/ast that flags any function longer than 50 lines and reports the function name and file position.

Prompt 3

Based on the go-ast-book approach, show me how to build a code generator in Go that reads struct definitions from a .go file and generates JSON marshaling methods for each struct.

Prompt 4

I want to build a Go tool that renames all variables named 'tmp' to 'temp' across a codebase using go/ast and go/printer. Walk me through the implementation.

Prompt 5

Using go/ast, write a Go program that parses a package and outputs a Markdown table listing all exported functions with their signatures and doc comments.

Frequently asked questions

What is go-ast-book?

A free Chinese-language book teaching Go developers how compilers represent source code as syntax trees, so they can build their own code analysis tools, linters, and code generators.

What language is go-ast-book written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go.

What license does go-ast-book use?

No license information is mentioned in the explanation.

How hard is go-ast-book to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is go-ast-book for?

Mainly developer.

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