Serializing objects to binary format

Besides the well-known JSON and XML, Go also offers the binary format, gob. This recipe goes through the basic concept of how to use the gob package.

How to do it...

1. Open the console and create the folder chapter05/recipe10.
2. Navigate to the directory.
3. Create the gob.go file with the following content:

        package main

        import (
          "bytes"
          "encoding/gob"
          "fmt"
        )

        type User struct {
          FirstName string
          LastName string
          Age int
          Active bool
        }

        func (u User) String() string {
          return fmt.Sprintf(`{"FirstName":%s,"LastName":%s,
                               "Age":%d,"Active":%v }`,
          u.FirstName, u.LastName, u.Age, u.Active)
        }

        type SimpleUser struct {
          FirstName string
          LastName string
        }

        func (u SimpleUser) String() string {
          return fmt.Sprintf(`{"FirstName":%s,"LastName":%s}`,
...