GoChat

In today's fast-paced digital world, real-time communication is more important than ever. Whether you're collaborating with a team, catching up with friends, or building the next big social platform, having a reliable and efficient chat application is crucial.

GoChat is a modern, real-time chat application that demonstrates the power of WebSockets combined with the performance of Go in the backend and the flexibility of Next.js in the frontend. Built as a learning project, it showcases how to create responsive, real-time applications using modern web technologies.

The Problem It Solves

Traditional HTTP-based chat applications often suffer from latency and inefficiency due to their request-response nature. They either require constant polling (which is resource-intensive) or long-polling (which has its own set of challenges).

GoChat solves this by implementing WebSockets, enabling full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection. This means messages are delivered instantly with minimal overhead, providing a smooth and responsive chat experience.

Key Features

• Real-time messaging with WebSockets
• Blazing fast backend built with Go
• Modern UI built with Next.js and shadcn/ui
• Bi-directional communication
• Responsive design that works on all devices
• Easy to set up and deploy

Technologies Used

Frontend

Next.js

Next.js provides a robust framework for building React applications with server-side rendering and static site generation. It offers an excellent developer experience and optimizations out of the box, making it perfect for building modern web applications.

shadcn/ui

A beautifully designed component library that provides accessible, customizable, and reusable UI components. It follows best practices and helps in building consistent user interfaces quickly.

WebSocket API

Enables real-time, bidirectional communication between the browser and the server, allowing for instant message delivery without the need for constant polling.

Backend

Go (Golang)

Known for its simplicity, efficiency, and excellent concurrency support, Go is the perfect language for building high-performance network applications like chat servers.

Gorilla WebSocket

A popular WebSocket implementation for Go that provides a complete and tested implementation of the WebSocket protocol, making it easy to add real-time features to your applications.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Go (1.20 or higher)
• Node.js (18.x or higher)
• npm or yarn

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/SplinterSword/GoChat.git
   cd GoChat

2. Set up the backend

   cd backend
   go mod download
   go build -o out && ./out

   The backend server will start on http://localhost:8080

3. Set up the frontend

   cd ../frontend
   npm install
   npm run dev

   The frontend will be available at http://localhost:3000

Project Structure

GoChat/
├── backend/           # Go backend server
│   ├── main.go        # Entry point of the Go application
│   ├── go.mod         # Go module file
│   └── ...
├── frontend/          # Next.js frontend
│   ├── components/    # React components
│   ├── pages/         # Next.js pages
│   ├── public/        # Static files
│   └── ...
└── README.md         # This file

Contributing

Contributions are what make the open-source community such an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.

1. Fork the Project
2. Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your Changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Contact

Your Name - @SplinterSword1 - [email protected]

Project Link: https://github.com/SplinterSword/GoChat.git