NOTE: there's a cleaner and simpler version: https://github.com/gokatas 👈

Katas (形) are practiced in martial arts as a way to internalize and perfect the techniques so they can be executed and adapted under different circumstances, without thought or hesitation. Let's try the same with Go code.

The approach is pretty low-tech. Go katas is a list of directories containing brief, well written Go programs. Select one of them and try to understand it. Then be rewriting it partially or from scratch until you feel comfortable with it. Use git diff to see how you are doing. There's a command to show the katas with some info and your progress:

$ go run ./cmd/gokatas -c 2
Kata              Last done    Done  Level     Topics
----              ---------    ----  -----     ------
boring/boring     0 days ago     1x  beginner  concurrency, design
boring/channel    0 days ago     1x  beginner  goroutines, channels
areader           3 days ago     2x  beginner  interfaces, io.Reader
----                           ----
3                                4x 

Initial setup:

1. Install Go.

2. Fork this repo so you have your own copy.

3. Clone the fork to your computer: git clone [email protected]:<you>/gokatas.git.

4. Clear contents of katas.md (unless you are me :-) and start practicing.

It's important to practice regularly because repetition creates habits, and habits are what enable mastery. Start by taking baby steps. Set a goal that you can meet, e.g. 10 minutes every day before work. At first it's fine even if you only read through one of the beginner level katas. Use documentation, a search engine or an AI model if you don't understand something. After some time it will require much less will power to practice. Your programming moves will start looking simpler and smoother. If you feel comfortable enough with a kata, stop practicing it and pick another one that interests you and is slightly beyond your current ability.