Conditionals

if/else, ternary expressions, match/case, and truthy/falsy rules.

if / elif / else

PythonGo

score = 85

if score >= 90:
    grade = "A"
elif score >= 80:
    grade = "B"
else:
    grade = "C"

score := 85

if score >= 90 {
    grade = "A"
} else if score >= 80 {
    grade = "B"
} else {
    grade = "C"
}

No parentheses, braces are required

Go does not use parentheses around conditions, but braces {} are mandatory — even for single-line bodies.

Ternary

PythonGo

status = "even" if x % 2 == 0 else "odd"

// Go has no ternary operator — use a full if/else
var status string
if x%2 == 0 {
    status = "even"
} else {
    status = "odd"
}

match / case

PythonGo

# Python 3.10+ structural pattern matching
match command:
    case "quit":
        sys.exit()
    case "hello" | "hi":
        print("Hello!")
    case str(s) if s.startswith("/"):
        print(f"Command: {s}")
    case _:
        print("Unknown")

switch command {
case "quit":
    os.Exit(0)
case "hello", "hi":
    fmt.Println("Hello!")
default:
    if strings.HasPrefix(command, "/") {
        fmt.Printf("Command: %s\n", command)
    } else {
        fmt.Println("Unknown")
    }
}

Go switch does not fall through by default

Unlike C/Java, Go's switch breaks automatically after each case. Use fallthrough explicitly if needed.

Truthy / Falsy

PythonGo

# These are all falsy:
bool(None)      # False
bool(0)         # False
bool("")        # False
bool([])        # False
bool({})        # False

if my_list:     # truthy check — non-empty list is True
    process(my_list)

// Go requires explicit bool — no truthy/falsy
if len(myList) > 0 {      // must compare explicitly
    process(myList)
}

if name != "" {           // cannot just use: if name {
    fmt.Println(name)
}

Go conditions must be bool

You cannot use if x { where x is an int, string, or pointer. Go requires an explicit boolean expression.