Go Program to Convert Binary Numbers to Decimal

This document explains a Go program designed to convert binary numbers to decimal. The program is structured to take a binary number as input and output its decimal equivalent.

Program Explanation

The Go program to convert a binary number to a decimal is divided into several sections:

1. Package Declaration: The program starts with declaring the package name as main.
2. Importing Packages: We import necessary packages. In this case, we use the fmt package for input and output operations and strconv for string conversion operations.
3. Main Function: The main function is the entry point of the program where the conversion logic is implemented.

Go Code

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "strconv"
)

// main is the entry point of the program
func main() {
    // Prompt user for binary input
    fmt.Print("Enter a binary number: ")
    var binaryInput string
    fmt.Scanln(&binaryInput)

    // Convert binary to decimal
    decimalOutput, err := binaryToDecimal(binaryInput)
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Println("Error:", err)
        return
    }

    // Print the result
    fmt.Printf("The decimal equivalent of %s is %d\n", binaryInput, decimalOutput)
}

// binaryToDecimal converts a binary string to a decimal integer
func binaryToDecimal(binaryStr string) (int64, error) {
    // Parse the binary string using base 2
    decimalValue, err := strconv.ParseInt(binaryStr, 2, 64)
    if err != nil {
        return 0, err
    }
    return decimalValue, nil
}

    

Program Details

Let’s go through the code in detail:

Package Declaration

package main
    

This line declares the package name. In Go, the main package is used for executable commands.

Importing Packages

import (
    "fmt"
    "strconv"
)

    

Here, we import two packages: fmt for formatting input and output, and strconv for converting string data types.

Main Function

// main is the entry point of the program
func main() {
    fmt.Print("Enter a binary number: ")
    var binaryInput string
    fmt.Scanln(&binaryInput)

    decimalOutput, err := binaryToDecimal(binaryInput)
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Println("Error:", err)
        return
    }

    fmt.Printf("The decimal equivalent of %s is %d\n", binaryInput, decimalOutput)
}

    

The main function prompts the user to enter a binary number, reads the input, and then calls the binaryToDecimal function to convert it. If the conversion is successful, it prints the decimal equivalent; otherwise, it prints an error message.

binaryToDecimal Function

// binaryToDecimal converts a binary string to a decimal integer
func binaryToDecimal(binaryStr string) (int64, error) {
    decimalValue, err := strconv.ParseInt(binaryStr, 2, 64)
    if err != nil {
        return 0, err
    }
    return decimalValue, nil
}

    

This function takes a binary string as input and converts it to a decimal integer using the strconv.ParseInt function with base 2. If the conversion is successful, it returns the decimal value; otherwise, it returns an error.