If I'm using http.ListenAndServe to provide responses when the user hits a URL, should I be firing off the corresponding actions in the function as a goroutine ?
For instance, say I'm listening at /:
func main() {
http.HandleFunc("/", provideMainContent)
}
func provideMainContent(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
/// Bunch of code, looks up details in databases, parses, then returns
}
Should the bunch of code in provideMainContent be wrapped in a goroutine so it doesn't slow down any potential requests that come after the fact ?
Short answer, No
GoDoc from http.Serve :
Serve accepts incoming HTTP connections on the listener l, creating a new service goroutine for each. The service goroutines read requests and then call handler to reply to them.
However as mentioned in the question linked by @Mellow Marmot, there might be cases where you might want to spawn a goroutine to do some processing while you return from the handler so that the requester does not have to wait for all the processing to be done to get a response.