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Golang / GoLang Production Patterns and Web Standards Interview Questions

What are the common API versioning strategies in Go HTTP services?

API versioning allows a service to evolve without breaking existing clients. Go supports several approaches, each with different trade-offs in URL clarity, header complexity, and routing ease.

// Strategy 1: URL path versioning (most common, most explicit)
mux.HandleFunc("GET /v1/users/{id}", v1GetUser)
mux.HandleFunc("GET /v2/users/{id}", v2GetUser)  // new format, new endpoint

// Sub-router pattern for clean version grouping
func v1Routes() http.Handler {
    mux := http.NewServeMux()
    mux.HandleFunc("GET /users/{id}", v1GetUser)
    mux.HandleFunc("POST /users", v1CreateUser)
    return mux
}

func v2Routes() http.Handler {
    mux := http.NewServeMux()
    mux.HandleFunc("GET /users/{id}", v2GetUser)
    mux.HandleFunc("POST /users", v2CreateUser)
    return mux
}

mainMux := http.NewServeMux()
mainMux.Handle("/v1/", http.StripPrefix("/v1", v1Routes()))
mainMux.Handle("/v2/", http.StripPrefix("/v2", v2Routes()))

// Strategy 2: Accept header versioning (content negotiation)
// Accept: application/vnd.myapi.v2+json
func versionedHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    accept := r.Header.Get("Accept")
    switch {
    case strings.Contains(accept, "vnd.myapi.v2"):
        v2GetUser(w, r)
    default:
        v1GetUser(w, r)
    }
}

// Strategy 3: Query parameter (least preferred)
// GET /users/1?version=2

// Backward compatibility within a version:
// - Add new optional fields (never remove)
// - Use omitempty on optional response fields
// - Return 422 for unrecognised required fields
// - Treat unknown JSON keys in requests as valid (ignore, don't error)

What is the primary advantage of URL path versioning (e.g. /v1/, /v2/) over Accept header versioning?
What does http.StripPrefix('/v1', handler) do when mounting a versioned sub-router?

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