An HTTP client in Go

Fetching and decoding JSON with a timeout.

func fetchJSON(url string, out any) error {
    client := &http.Client{Timeout: 10 * time.Second}
    resp, err := client.Get(url)
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()
    if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
        return fmt.Errorf("status %d", resp.StatusCode)
    }
    return json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(out)
}

How it works

1. A http.Client with Timeout avoids hanging.
2. defer resp.Body.Close() always releases it.
3. json.NewDecoder decodes straight from the stream.

Keywords and builtins used here

• any
• defer
• error
• func
• if
• return
• string

The run, in numbers

Lines

12

Characters to type

311

Tokens

88

Three-star pace

110 tpm

At the three-star pace of 110 tokens a minute, this run takes about 48 seconds.

Type this snippet

Step 4 of 5 in HTTP, step 19 of 26 in Standard library & project layout.

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