So, let's say we have a function to fetch crypto currencies price:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"sync"
"project/api"
)
func main() {
go getCurrencyData("BTC")
go getCurrencyData("BCH")
go getCurrencyData("ETH")
}
func getCurrencyData(currency string) {
rate, err := api.GetRate(currency)
if err == nil {
fmt.Printf("The rate for %v is %.2f \n", rate.Currency, rate.Price)
}
}
We know what will happen for this code, after main
function ends, all the program ends automaticlly, we might see nothing from the output.
WaitGroup
WaitGroup
can helps, let change code a little bit:
func main() {
currencies := []string {"BTC", "ETH", "BCH"}
var wg sync.WaitGroup
for _, currency := range currencies {
wg.Add(1)
go getCurrencyData(currency)
wg.Done()
}
wg.Wait()
}
Well, current code won't work, but it is important to understand what WaitGroup
doing for us, so basiclly it add 1 to a internal count of waitgroup by calling Add(1)
, and also subtract 1 by calling Done()
, Wait()
is used to wait the internal counter to be zero.
But why it doesn't work, it is because after go getCUrrencyData(currency)
, wg.Done()
get called immedicatly, we are not waiting go getCurrencyData(currency)
to finish at all
go getCurrencyData(cy) // do work in another thread
wg.Done() // continue in main thread
Using Async call
Now, let modify the code to make it work
func main() {
currencies := []string {"BTC", "ETH", "BCH"}
var wg sync.WaitGroup
for _, currency := range currencies {
wg.Add(1)
go func (cy string) {
getCurrencyData(cy)
wg.Done()
}(currency)
}
wg.Wait()
}
We wrap getCurrencyData
and wg.Done()
in a go func() {}()
.
Since getCurrencyData
and wg.Done()
are now working in sync, so wg.Done()
will actually work.