People ask all the time "How does this work in Go?" or "How is that implemented in Go?". If you have a similar question, maybe it is time you look at the source code. Understandably, this is not people's first instinct. However, Go's source code is very approachable, in part due to the simplicity of the language.

Installing Go from source is simple and tends to be the preferred installation method for many Go users. If using the official binary distribution, the source to the standard library is available at $(go env GOROOT)/src/pkg . Or, you can browse the source tree at http://golang.org/src.

So, why not get started? Here is a selection of great literature on Go's internals, as well as a simplified and annotated tree of Go's source with an emphasis on the runtime:

./src ├── cmd │ ├── cgo: cgo preprocessor │ ├── gc: Go compiler │ ├── go: main CLI for Go users │ └── ...rest of toolchain └── pkg ├── go: tooling of Go code ├── runtime │ ├── runtime.h: data structures, scheduler states │ ├── proc.c: scheduler │ ├── mgc0.c: garbage collector │ ├── chan.c: channels │ ├── slice.c: slices │ ├── hashmap.c: maps │ ├── cgocall.c: cgo │ └── ...rest of runtime └── ...rest of standard library

For the Go tools, such as godoc, vet, and cover, you can simply find their sources in your $GOPATH after installing, or visit go.tools on Google Code. If you want to keep up with development, the golang-dev and golang-nuts mailing lists are worth following, as well as the Go development dashboard.

Whew. If you got that far, consider contributing!