#Languages

Introduction

The InterSystems IRIS Data Platform has long been known for its performance, interoperability, and flexibility across programming languages. For years, developers could use IRIS with Python, Java, JavaScript, and .NET — but Go (or Golang) developers were left waiting.

That wait is finally over.

The new go-irisnative driver brings GoLang support to InterSystems IRIS, implementing the standard database/sql API. This means Go developers can now use familiar database tooling, connection pooling, and query interfaces to build applications powered by IRIS.

Why GoLang Support Matters

GoLang is a language designed for simplicity, concurrency, and performance — ideal for cloud-native and microservices-based architectures. It powers some of the world’s most scalable systems, including Kubernetes, Docker, and Terraform.

Bringing IRIS into the Go ecosystem enables:

• Lightweight, high-performance services using IRIS as the backend.
• Native concurrency for parallel query execution or background processing.
• Seamless integration with containerized and distributed systems.
• Idiomatic database access through Go’s database/sql interface.

This integration makes IRIS a perfect fit for modern, cloud-ready Go applications.

Starting out with ObjectScript, it is really exciting, but it can also feel a little unusual if you're used to other languages. Many beginners trip over the same hurdles, so here are a few "gotchas" you'll want to watch out for. (Also few friendly tips to avoid them)

NAMING THINGS RANDOMLY

We have all been guilty of naming something Test1 or MyClass just to move on quickly. But once your project grows, these names become a nightmare. 

➡ Pick clear, consistent names from the start. Think of it as leaving breadcrumbs for your future self and your teammates.

MIXING UP GLOBALS AND VARIABLE

Since we reached two important milestones for Go developers working with InterSystems IRIS:

• The Wait Is Over: Welcome GoLang Support for InterSystems IRIS — where we unveiled the new go-irisnative driver, providing a native database/sql interface for Go.
• GORM Meets InterSystems IRIS: Introducing gorm-iris — where we showed how to integrate IRIS with GORM, one of the most popular Go ORM libraries.

Now it’s time to see everything working together.

To demonstrate how easily Go developers can adopt InterSystems IRIS, I took an existing production-grade open-source project — the RealWorld Example App — which showcases a full-stack Medium.com-style clone implemented with Go Fiber, GORM, and SQLite.

With just a few configuration tweaks, I swapped out SQLite for gorm-iris, keeping everything else unchanged. The result?
A fully functional Go + Fiber application powered by InterSystems IRIS — no code rewrites, no ORM gymnastics, just a different database backend.

You can find the complete working demo here: github.com/caretdev/golang-fiber-iris-realworld-example-app

While working with external languages for IRIS (such as Python and Node.js), one of the first things you must accomplish is making a connection to an IRIS instance.

For instance, to make a connection in python (from https://pypi.org/project/intersystems-irispython/):

import iris

# Open a connection to the server
args = {
	'hostname':'127.0.0.1', 
	'port': 1972,
	'namespace':'USER', 
	'username':'username', 
	'password':'password'
}
conn = iris.connect(**args)

# Create an iris object
irispy = iris.createIRIS(conn)

# Create a global array in the USER namespace on the server
irispy.set("myGlob

If you thought native Go support for IRIS was exciting, wait until you see what happens when GORM enters the mix.

Just recently, we welcomed native GoLang support for InterSystems IRIS with the release of go-irisnative. That was just the beginning. Now, we’re kicking things up a notch with the launch of gorm-iris — a GORM driver designed to bring the power of Object Relational Mapping (ORM) to your IRIS + Go stack.

Why GORM?

GORM is one of the most popular ORM libraries in the Go ecosystem. It makes it easy to interact with databases using Go structs instead of writing raw SQL. With features like auto migrations, associations, and query building, GORM simplifies backend development significantly.

So naturally, the next step after enabling Go to talk natively with IRIS was to make GORM work seamlessly with it. That’s exactly what gorm-iris does.

Are you familiar with SQL databases, but not familiar with IRIS?  Then read on...

About a year ago I joined InterSystems, and that is how IRIS got on my radar.  I've been using databases for over 40 years—much of that time for database vendors—and assumed IRIS would be largely the same as the other databases I knew.  However I was surprised to find that IRIS is in several ways quite unlike other databases, often much better.  With this, my first article in the Dev Community, I'll give a high-level overview of IRIS for people that are already familiar with the other databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, Snowflake, PostgeSQL, etc.   I hope I can make things clearer and simpler for you and save you some time getting started.

I was thinking about how to create a new parameter in a method, similar to Output or ByRef...

What documentation can I read to learn more about this?

I want to create a parameter customized.