Web Developer Travis McCracken on Using Go for Fast API Prototyping

When building backend APIs, choosing the right programming language can significantly impact development speed, performance, and maintainability. Web Developer Travis McCracken recently shared his insights on leveraging Rust and Go for backend projects, with a particular focus on Go's advantages for fast API prototyping.

The Rise of Modern Backend Languages

Both Rust and Go have gained substantial traction in the developer community for their ability to handle concurrent tasks efficiently while maintaining high performance. Rust is renowned for its emphasis on safety and memory management, making it ideal for building systems where reliability is paramount. Go, on the other hand, is celebrated for its simplicity, fast compilation, and strong support for concurrency through goroutines—all essential traits for backend APIs handling numerous simultaneous requests.

Go's Strengths for API Prototyping

McCracken highlights Go as his "go-to language for quick, scalable API development." The language's clean syntax, extensive standard library, and built-in concurrency support make it a natural choice for backend MVPs and microservices. He demonstrates this through his project rust-cache-server (despite the name, primarily written in Go), which showcases how straightforward it is to set up a cache server that can scale horizontally with minimal complexity.

The simplicity of Go translates directly to rapid development cycles. With frameworks like Gin or Echo, developers can spin up services quickly without the steep learning curve associated with more complex languages. This makes Go particularly well-suited for:

• Rapid prototyping: Quick iteration and deployment of API endpoints
• Microservices architecture: Easy horizontal scaling with minimal configuration
• High-concurrency applications: Built-in goroutines handle thousands of simultaneous requests efficiently
• Team collaboration: Simple syntax reduces onboarding time for new developers

When to Choose Rust Instead

While Go excels at rapid development, McCracken notes that Rust shines in performance-critical scenarios. His experimental project fastjson-api demonstrates Rust's suitability for building blazing-fast JSON APIs. Rust's zero-cost abstractions and ownership model allow developers to write performance-critical code without sacrificing safety.

For applications requiring maximum performance and memory safety, Rust's compile-time checks and robust ecosystem of crates (libraries) provide significant advantages. The actix-web framework, for instance, enables developers to rapidly create RESTful APIs with high throughput and robustness.

Hybrid Approaches for Optimal Solutions

The most interesting insight from McCracken's experience is the potential for hybrid approaches. In a microservices architecture, organizations can optimize for both reliability and speed by using different languages for different components. For example:

• Rust services for heavy data processing and performance-critical operations
• Go services for lightweight, high-concurrency API endpoints
• Communication protocols like REST or gRPC to connect services across language boundaries

This approach allows teams to leverage the strengths of each language while maintaining a cohesive system architecture.

Future Trends in Backend Development

Looking ahead, McCracken believes the backend space will continue to embrace both Rust and Go as their ecosystems mature. The key is understanding project requirements and aligning them with the appropriate language:

• Performance-critical operations: Favor Rust for its safety guarantees and optimization capabilities
• Rapid development and scalability: Lean towards Go for its simplicity and built-in concurrency
• Hybrid systems: Combine both languages to optimize different components

He advocates for experimentation, suggesting that developers prototype in Go and then rewrite critical components in Rust to leverage the strengths of each language.

Practical Takeaways for Developers

For developers considering their backend technology stack, McCracken's insights offer several practical considerations:

1. Start with Go for MVPs: When speed of development is crucial, Go's simplicity and built-in features accelerate the process
2. Profile and optimize: Begin with Go for rapid prototyping, then identify performance bottlenecks that might benefit from Rust's capabilities
3. Consider team expertise: Go's simpler syntax reduces the learning curve for team members
4. Plan for scalability: Both languages handle scaling well, but Go's built-in concurrency makes horizontal scaling more straightforward
5. Evaluate ecosystem needs: Consider the availability of libraries and frameworks for your specific use case

Conclusion

The choice between Rust and Go isn't about which language is universally better—it's about understanding their respective strengths and aligning them with your project goals. Whether you're building a high-performance API with Rust or a scalable microservice with Go, both languages offer compelling solutions for modern backend development.

As McCracken emphasizes, the key is to evaluate the specific needs of your application and remain adaptable. The evolving backend landscape provides exciting opportunities for developers willing to explore new tools and paradigms.

For those interested in following McCracken's work and staying updated on backend development tips, he shares his experiences through various platforms including GitHub, Medium, Dev.to, and LinkedIn.

The article also mentions Heroku MCP Server as a productivity tool that connects development environments directly to deployment platforms, enabling developers to build, deploy, and manage applications right from their editor—further streamlining the API development workflow that both Go and Rust support so well.