go-optimization

name	go-optimization
description	Performance optimization techniques including profiling, memory management, benchmarking, and runtime tuning. Use when optimizing Go code performance, reducing memory usage, or analyzing bottlenecks. Use when this capability is needed.
metadata	{"author":"geoffjay"}

Go Optimization Skill

This skill provides expert guidance on Go performance optimization, covering profiling, benchmarking, memory management, and runtime tuning for building high-performance applications.

When to Use

Activate this skill when:

• Profiling application performance
• Optimizing CPU-intensive operations
• Reducing memory allocations
• Tuning garbage collection
• Writing benchmarks
• Analyzing performance bottlenecks
• Optimizing hot paths
• Reducing lock contention

Profiling

CPU Profiling

import (
    "os"
    "runtime/pprof"
)

func main() {
    // Start CPU profiling
    f, err := os.Create("cpu.prof")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer f.Close()

    if err := pprof.StartCPUProfile(f); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer pprof.StopCPUProfile()

    // Your code here
    runApplication()
}

// Analyze:
// go tool pprof cpu.prof
// (pprof) top10
// (pprof) list functionName
// (pprof) web

Memory Profiling

import (
    "os"
    "runtime"
    "runtime/pprof"
)

func writeMemProfile(filename string) {
    f, err := os.Create(filename)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer f.Close()

    runtime.GC() // Force GC before snapshot
    if err := pprof.WriteHeapProfile(f); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
}

// Analyze:
// go tool pprof -alloc_space mem.prof
// go tool pprof -inuse_space mem.prof

HTTP Profiling

import (
    _ "net/http/pprof"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    // Enable pprof endpoints
    go func() {
        log.Println(http.ListenAndServe("localhost:6060", nil))
    }()

    // Your application
    runServer()
}

// Access profiles:
// http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/
// go tool pprof http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/profile?seconds=30
// go tool pprof http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/heap

Execution Tracing

import (
    "os"
    "runtime/trace"
)

func main() {
    f, err := os.Create("trace.out")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer f.Close()

    if err := trace.Start(f); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer trace.Stop()

    // Your code
    runApplication()
}

// View trace:
// go tool trace trace.out

Benchmarking

Basic Benchmarks

func BenchmarkStringConcat(b *testing.B) {
    for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
        _ = "hello" + " " + "world"
    }
}

func BenchmarkStringBuilder(b *testing.B) {
    for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
        var sb strings.Builder
        sb.WriteString("hello")
        sb.WriteString(" ")
        sb.WriteString("world")
        _ = sb.String()
    }
}

// Run: go test -bench=. -benchmem

Sub-benchmarks

func BenchmarkEncode(b *testing.B) {
    data := generateTestData()

    b.Run("JSON", func(b *testing.B) {
        b.ReportAllocs()
        for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
            json.Marshal(data)
        }
    })

    b.Run("MessagePack", func(b *testing.B) {
        b.ReportAllocs()
        for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
            msgpack.Marshal(data)
        }
    })
}

Parallel Benchmarks

func BenchmarkConcurrentAccess(b *testing.B) {
    cache := NewCache()

    b.RunParallel(func(pb *testing.PB) {
        for pb.Next() {
            cache.Get("key")
        }
    })
}

Benchmark Comparison

# Run benchmarks and save results
go test -bench=. -benchmem > old.txt

# Make optimizations

# Run again and compare
go test -bench=. -benchmem > new.txt
benchstat old.txt new.txt

Memory Optimization

Escape Analysis

// Check what escapes to heap
// go build -gcflags="-m" main.go

// ✅ GOOD: Stack allocation
func stackAlloc() int {
    x := 42
    return x
}

// ❌ BAD: Heap escape
func heapEscape() *int {
    x := 42
    return &x // x escapes to heap
}

// ✅ GOOD: Interface without allocation
func noAlloc(w io.Writer, data []byte) {
    w.Write(data)
}

// ❌ BAD: Interface causes allocation
func withAlloc() io.Writer {
    var b bytes.Buffer
    return &b // &b escapes
}

Pre-allocation

// ❌ BAD: Growing slice
func badAppend(n int) []int {
    var result []int
    for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
        result = append(result, i) // Multiple allocations
    }
    return result
}

// ✅ GOOD: Pre-allocate
func goodAppend(n int) []int {
    result := make([]int, 0, n) // Single allocation
    for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
        result = append(result, i)
    }
    return result
}

// ✅ GOOD: Known length
func knownLength(n int) []int {
    result := make([]int, n)
    for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
        result[i] = i
    }
    return result
}

// ❌ BAD: String concatenation
func badConcat(strs []string) string {
    result := ""
    for _, s := range strs {
        result += s // New allocation each time
    }
    return result
}


  {
     sb strings.Builder
    sb.Grow(estimateSize(strs))
     _, s :=  strs {
        sb.WriteString(s)
    }
     sb.String()
}

sync.Pool

var bufferPool = sync.Pool{
    New: func() interface{} {
        return new(bytes.Buffer)
    },
}

func processData(data []byte) []byte {
    // Get buffer from pool
    buf := bufferPool.Get().(*bytes.Buffer)
    buf.Reset()
    defer bufferPool.Put(buf)

    // Use buffer
    buf.Write(data)
    // Process...

    return buf.Bytes()
}

// String builder pool
var sbPool = sync.Pool{
    New: func() interface{} {
        return &strings.Builder{}
    },
}

func buildString(parts []string) string {
    sb := sbPool.Get().(*strings.Builder)
    sb.Reset()
    defer sbPool.Put(sb)

    for _, part := range parts {
        sb.WriteString(part)
    }
    return sb.String()
}

Zero-Copy Techniques

// Use byte slices instead of strings
func parseHeader(header []byte) (key, value []byte) {
    i := bytes.IndexByte(header, ':')
    if i < 0 {
        return nil, nil
    }
    return header[:i], header[i+1:]
}

// Reuse buffers
type Parser struct {
    buf []byte
}

func (p *Parser) Parse(data []byte) error {
    p.buf = p.buf[:0] // Reset length, keep capacity
    p.buf = append(p.buf, data...)
    // Process p.buf...
    return nil
}

// Direct writing
func writeResponse(w io.Writer, data interface{}) error {
    enc := json.NewEncoder(w) // Write directly to w
    return enc.Encode(data)
}

Garbage Collection Tuning

GC Control

import "runtime/debug"

// Adjust GC target percentage
debug.SetGCPercent(100) // Default
// Higher = less frequent GC, more memory
// Lower = more frequent GC, less memory

// Force GC (use sparingly!)
runtime.GC()

// Monitor GC stats
var stats runtime.MemStats
runtime.ReadMemStats(&stats)
fmt.Printf("Alloc = %v MB\n", stats.Alloc/1024/1024)
fmt.Printf("TotalAlloc = %v MB\n", stats.TotalAlloc/1024/1024)
fmt.Printf("Sys = %v MB\n", stats.Sys/1024/1024)
fmt.Printf("NumGC = %v\n", stats.NumGC)

GOGC Environment Variable

# Default (100%)
GOGC=100 ./myapp

# More aggressive GC (uses less memory)
GOGC=50 ./myapp

# Less frequent GC (uses more memory)
GOGC=200 ./myapp

# Disable GC (for debugging)
GOGC=off ./myapp

Concurrency Optimization

Reduce Lock Contention

// ❌ BAD: Single lock
type BadCache struct {
    mu    sync.Mutex
    items map[string]interface{}
}

// ✅ GOOD: RWMutex
type GoodCache struct {
    mu    sync.RWMutex
    items map[string]interface{}
}

func (c *GoodCache) Get(key string) interface{} {
    c.mu.RLock()
    defer c.mu.RUnlock()
    return c.items[key]
}

// ✅ BETTER: Sharded locks
type ShardedCache struct {
    shards [256]*shard
}

type shard struct {
    mu    sync.RWMutex
    items map[string]interface{}
}

func (c *ShardedCache) Get(key string) interface{} {
    shard := c.getShard(key)
    shard.mu.RLock()
    defer shard.mu.RUnlock()
    return shard.items[key]
}

Channel Buffering

// ❌ BAD: Unbuffered channel causes blocking
ch := make(chan int)

// ✅ GOOD: Buffered channel
ch := make(chan int, 100)

// Optimal buffer size depends on:
// - Producer/consumer rates
// - Memory constraints
// - Latency requirements

Atomic Operations

import "sync/atomic"

type Counter struct {
    value int64
}

func (c *Counter) Increment() {
    atomic.AddInt64(&c.value, 1)
}

func (c *Counter) Value() int64 {
    return atomic.LoadInt64(&c.value)
}

// ✅ Faster than mutex for simple operations
// ❌ Limited to basic types and operations

Algorithmic Optimization

Map Pre-sizing

// ❌ BAD: Growing map
func badMap(items []Item) map[string]Item {
    m := make(map[string]Item)
    for _, item := range items {
        m[item.ID] = item
    }
    return m
}

// ✅ GOOD: Pre-sized map
func goodMap(items []Item) map[string]Item {
    m := make(map[string]Item, len(items))
    for _, item := range items {
        m[item.ID] = item
    }
    return m
}

Avoid Unnecessary Work

// ❌ BAD: Repeated computation
func process(items []Item) {
    for _, item := range items {
        if isValid(item) {
            result := expensiveComputation(item)
            if result > threshold {
                handleResult(result)
            }
        }
    }
}

// ✅ GOOD: Early returns
func process(items []Item) {
    for _, item := range items {
        if !isValid(item) {
            continue // Skip early
        }
        result := expensiveComputation(item)
        if result <= threshold {
            continue // Skip early
        }
        handleResult(result)
    }
}

// ✅ BETTER: Fast path
func process(items []Item) {
    for _, item := range items {
        // Fast path for common case
        if item.IsSimple() {
            handleSimple(item)
            continue
        }
        // Slow path for complex case
        handleComplex(item)
    }
}

Runtime Tuning

GOMAXPROCS

import "runtime"

// Set number of OS threads
runtime.GOMAXPROCS(runtime.NumCPU())

// For CPU-bound: NumCPU
// For I/O-bound: NumCPU * 2 or more

Environment Variables

# Max OS threads
GOMAXPROCS=8 ./myapp

# GC aggressiveness
GOGC=100 ./myapp

# Memory limit (Go 1.19+)
GOMEMLIMIT=4GiB ./myapp

# Trace execution
GODEBUG=gctrace=1 ./myapp

Performance Patterns

Inline Functions

// Compiler inlines small functions automatically

//go:inline
func add(a, b int) int {
    return a + b
}

// Keep hot-path functions small for inlining

Avoid Interface Allocations

// ❌ BAD: Interface allocation
func badPrint(value interface{}) {
    fmt.Println(value) // value escapes
}

// ✅ GOOD: Type-specific functions
func printInt(value int) {
    fmt.Println(value)
}

func printString(value string) {
    fmt.Println(value)
}

Batch Operations

// ❌ BAD: Individual operations
for _, item := range items {
    db.Insert(item) // N database calls
}

// ✅ GOOD: Batch operations
db.BatchInsert(items) // 1 database call

Best Practices

1. Profile before optimizing - Measure, don't guess
2. Focus on hot paths - Optimize the 20% that matters
3. Reduce allocations - Reuse objects, pre-allocate
4. Use appropriate data structures - Map vs slice vs array
5. Minimize lock contention - Use RWMutex, sharding
6. Benchmark changes - Use benchstat for comparisons
7. Test with race detector - go test -race
8. Monitor in production - Use profiling endpoints
9. Balance readability and performance - Don't over-optimize
10. Use PGO - Profile-guided optimization (Go 1.20+)

Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO)

# 1. Build with profiling
go build -o myapp

# 2. Run and collect profile
./myapp -cpuprofile=default.pgo

# 3. Rebuild with PGO
go build -pgo=default.pgo -o myapp-optimized

# Performance improvement: 5-15% typical

Resources

Additional resources in:

• assets/examples/ - Performance optimization examples
• assets/benchmarks/ - Benchmark templates
• references/ - Links to profiling guides and performance papers

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