Utility that decodes and logs UDP packets

I have written the following utility, as my first non-tutorial program in Go.

The purpose of the utility is

• to connect to a torque/force sensor (aka load-cell) via UDP;

• to send an initialization command; and

• to record the resulting stream of measurements.

Since I am planning further functionality (setting duty cycle of a brushless motor controller via serial), which will be logged to the same file, I have separated the file writing from the UDP packet logging via a channel.

Since this is a utility that serves a single purpose, error handling is minimal.

I am hoping for feedback regarding the general style and idiomaticy of the code and the folder structure (separating loadcell-related files into a separate sub-package, in the loadcell sub-directory).

Specifically, I would appreciate your thoughts on:

• A possible bug in go version go1.4.2 darwin/amd64, in loadcell.go (see comment before the final for loop)

• The FromNetworkBytes function in loadCellPacket.go. I really wanted to make a class method, e.g. packet := loadCellPacket.FromNetworkBytes(b), but as far as I found, the Go options are either: packet := loadCellPacketFromNetworkBytes(b) (a simple function), or var packet loadCellBytes; packet.FromNetworkBytes(b). I opted for the later, since I can reuse the packet variable, but I would appreciate feedback.

The code is hosted here, and for longevity of this question, I repeat the files below. I have left out import statements for brevity.

./main.go

```
package main

import (
...
"github.com/mikehamer/ati-torque-force-logger/loadcell"
)

func main() {
// Parse flags
loadCellAddress := flag.String("address", "192.168.1.200:49152", "The address of the loadcell")
logFileName := flag.String("logfile", fmt.Sprintf("%s_loadcell.log", time.Now().Format("2006-01-02_15-04-05")), "The name of the logfile")
flag.Parse()

//open CSV log
logfile, err := os.Create(*logFileName)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(

Regarding the first part of it:

From reading the golang docs, it appears

buf := make([]byte, 36) //BUG? This causes ReadFromUDP to block = GOOD

may work because a specific allocation and initialization of 36 []byte type is occuring, at least enough to hold something if a UDP packet arrives to be read

see Documentation: builtin

while

var buf []byte        //     While this causes ReadFromUDP to continuously return 0,nil,nil

in this case you've got buf as a pointer to byte but neither a new nor make has been called on it

One caveat, you are using 1.4.x and the docs seem to be up to current 1.9.x. I didn't see an easy way to check the specs on the net package or Connection/UDP usage, as to whether anything has changed...

StackExchange Code Review Q#87117, answer score: 2