given the values read from and written to memory.
That execution must be consistent with the <i>sequenced before</i> relation,
defined as the partial order requirements set out by the <a href="/ref/spec">Go language specification</a>
for Go's control flow constructs as well as the <a href="/ref/spec#Order_of_evaluation">order of evaluation for expressions</a>.
</p>

<p>
A Go <i>program execution</i> is modeled as a set of goroutine executions,

<h3 id="Language_versions">Language versions</h3>

<p>
The <a href="/doc/go1compat">Go 1 compatibility guarantee</a> ensures that
programs written to the Go 1 specification will continue to compile and run
correctly, unchanged, over the lifetime of that specification.
More generally, as adjustments are made and features added to the language,
the compatibility guarantee ensures that a Go program that works with a

<!--{
	"Title": "The Go Programming Language Specification",
	"Subtitle": "Version of Oct 15, 2021",
	"Path": "/ref/spec"
}-->

<h2 id="Introduction">Introduction</h2>

<p>
This is the reference manual for the Go programming language as it was for
language version 1.17, in October 2021, before the introduction of generics.
It is provided for historical interest.
The current reference manual can be found <a href="/doc/go_spec.html">here</a>.