Interact with MongoDB in an AWS Lambda Function Using Go

If you’re a Go developer and you’re looking to go serverless, AWS Lambda is a solid choice that will get you up and running in no time. But what happens when you need to connect to your database? With serverless functions, also known as functions as a service (FaaS), you can never be sure about the uptime of your function or how it has chosen to scale automatically with demand. For this reason, concurrent connections to your database, which aren’t infinite, happen a little differently. In other words, we want to be efficient in how connections and interactions to the database are made.

In this tutorial we’ll see how to create a serverless function using the Go programming language and that function will connect to and query MongoDB Atlas in an efficient manner.

Get Hyped: Using Docker + Go with MongoDB

In the developer community, ensuring your projects run accurately regardless of the environment can be a pain. Whether it’s trying to recreate a demo from an online tutorial or working on a code review, hearing the words, “Well, it works on my machine…” can be frustrating. Instead of spending hours debugging, we want to introduce you to a platform that will change your developer experience: Docker.

Docker is a great tool to learn because it provides developers with the ability for their applications to be used easily between environments, and it’s resource-efficient in comparison to virtual machines. This tutorial will gently guide you through how to navigate Docker, along with how to integrate Go on the platform. We will be using this project to connect to our previously built MongoDB Atlas Search Cluster made for using Synonyms in Atlas Search. Stay tuned for a fun read on how to learn all the above while also expanding your Gen-Z slang knowledge from our synonyms cluster. Get hyped!

Client-Side Field Level Encryption (CSFLE) in MongoDB with Golang

One of the many great things about MongoDB is how secure you can make your data in it. In addition to network and user-based rules, you have encryption of your data at rest, encryption over the wire, and now recently, client-side encryption known as client-side field level encryption (CSFLE).

So, what exactly is client-side field level encryption (CSFLE) and how do you use it?

With field level encryption, you can choose to encrypt certain fields within a document, client-side, while leaving other fields as plain text. This is particularly useful because when viewing a CSFLE document with the CLI, Compass, or directly within Altas, the encrypted fields will not be human readable. When they are not human readable, if the documents should get into the wrong hands, those fields will be useless to the malicious user. However, when using the MongoDB language drivers while using the same encryption keys, those fields can be decrypted and are queryable within the application.

In this quick start themed tutorial, we’re going to see how to use MongoDB field level encryption with the Go programming language (Golang). In particular, we’re going to be exploring automatic encryption rather than manual encryption.

Interacting with a GraphQL API with Golang

You might remember that I’ve done quite a bit of content when it comes to developing GraphQL APIs with the Go programming language (Golang). Heck, I’ve even written a book and published a course on the subject. However, in everything I’ve done thus far, I haven’t demonstrated how to interact with a GraphQL using Golang.

Sure, a lot of the time you’ll be using something like React, Angular, or Vue to interact with your web service, but that doesn’t mean you’ll never need to query a GraphQL API from Go or execute a mutation.

In this tutorial we’re going to see some quick examples on how to make HTTP requests with GraphQL queries using Golang.

Developing Alexa Skills with MongoDB and Golang

The popularity of Amazon Alexa and virtual assistants in general is no question, huge. Having a web application and mobile application isn’t enough for most organizations anymore, and now you need to start supporting voice operated applications.

So what does it take to create something for Alexa? How different is it from creating a web application?

In this tutorial we’re going to see how to create an Amazon Alexa Skill, also referred to as an Alexa application, that interacts with a MongoDB cluster using the Go programming language (Golang) and AWS Lambda.

Checking for Unchecked Errors within Golang Applications

When it comes to error handling in the Go programming language (Golang), they can either be incredible or a miserable nightmare in terms of management. You can choose to embrace them and check if they are nil every opportunity that you have, or you can ignore them with an underscore. However, what happens in those circumstances where you didn’t even know the function returned something?

Regardless of the story, checking for errors is a good thing, even if you hate doing it. In this tutorial we’re going to see how to scan your code for missed opportunities when it comes to error checking using a nifty open source tool.

Web Services for the Go Developer, First Edition

I’m pleased to announce that my eBook titled, Web Services for the Go Developer, has been published! This is my second book and was inspired by my previous book with nearly the same name that focused on JavaScript development rather than Go development.

So what is the objective of this book?

It is important for developers to be familiar with web services that follow the GraphQL or REST specification, not only from the perspective of using those web services, but also in designing and developing them. The objective of this book is to teach Go developers, through example, how to do just that.