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Arrays and Slices in Go

Arrays and Slices

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Arrays and slices are two important data structures in Go. Both are used for storing collections of elements, but they have some differences.

An array is a fixed-size collection of elements of the same data type. Once created, the size of an array cannot be changed.

Arrays are declared using square brackets, and the size is specified in the declaration, as shown below:

                    
var myArray [3]int // Declares an array of integers with 3 elements
                  

Arrays are faster and more memory efficient than slices because they are fixed-size and the memory allocation is done at compile time.

On the other hand, slices are dynamic collections. Slices can grow or shrink as needed.

Slices are declared using brackets with no size specified, as shown below:

                    
var mySlice []int // Declares a slice of integers with no initial size
                  

Slices are implemented as a layer on top of arrays, so the underlying array is resized when the slice grows or shrinks. Slices are more flexible than arrays because they can change size, but they are also slower and less memory efficient because they require dynamic memory allocation.

In summary, arrays and slices are both important data structures in Go. Arrays are fixed-size collections of elements, while slices are dynamic collections that can grow or shrink as needed. Both have their pros and cons, and the choice between them depends on the specific use case.

March 27, 2023

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