Converting Python Requests to Go net/http for Easier HTTP Clients

If you're used to making HTTP requests in Python using the popular Requests library, switching to Go can require learning the net/http package from scratch. While the principles of HTTP clients are similar, the syntax does differ between languages.

This article will guide you through the key differences and make converting Python Requests code to Go net/http more approachable. We'll cover concepts like:

Requests Basics Refresher

First, let's recap how Requests handles some common use cases in Python:

import requests

url = 'https://api.example.com/users'

# GET request
response = requests.get(url, params={'page': 2}) 

# POST request
data = {'name': 'John Doe'}
response = requests.post(url, json=data)

Requests makes it simple to use parameters, headers, and JSON bodies. The requests.get() and requests.post() methods handle a lot of complexity behind the scenes.

Translating to Go net/http

Go's net/http package provides the basic HTTP client building blocks. We construct requests and handle responses manually:

import "net/http"

url := "https://api.example.com/users"

// GET request
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)
q := req.URL.Query()
q.Add("page", "2")
req.URL.RawQuery = q.Encode()

client := &http.Client{}
resp, _ := client.Do(req)

// POST request 
data := `{"name":"John Doe"}`
req, _ = http.NewRequest("POST", url, bytes.NewBuffer([]byte(data)))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

resp, _ = client.Do(req)

While more verbose, we construct requests step-by-step:

This explicitness provides flexibility but requires more code.

Tips for Request Conversion

Here are some useful tips when converting Python Requests code:

Parsing the Response

Once we have the response, reading the JSON body has the same workflow:

// Python 
json_data = response.json()

// Go
defer resp.Body.Close()
data, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
var json_data map[string]interface{}
json.Unmarshal(data, &json_data)

We close the body, read the raw content, and unmarshal to a Go data structure.

##Conclusion

Transitioning HTTP clients from Python Requests to Go net/http involves manually creating requests and handling responses. But the fundamental workflow remains similar across languages:

Once you learn the syntax of Go net/http, you can build robust HTTP interactions comparable to Requests.

I hope these examples and tips help you convert Python code to idiomatic Go clients!