Go Slices and Subslices: Understanding Shared Memory and Avoiding `append()` Pitfalls
Heya! Welcome back to my blog.😁 If you are here, you are probably new to Golang or experienced and want to explore the inner workings of slices. Let’s GO on the ride then.
Go is often praised for its simplicity and efficiency — "Go just gets the job done," as they say. For those of us coming from languages like C, C++, or Java, Go’s straightforward syntax and ease of use is refreshing. However, even in Go, certain quirks can trip up developers, especially when it comes to slices and subslices. Let's uncover these nuances to better understand how to avoid common pitfalls with append() and shared memory in slices.
Typically, when you need a data structure to store a sequence of values, slices are the go-to option in Go. Their flexibility comes from the fact that their length is not fixed as part of their type. This feature overcomes the constraints of arrays, allowing us to create a single function that can handle slices of any size, and enabling slices to grow or expand as necessary.
While slices share some similarities with arrays such as being indexable and having a length, they differ in how they manage data. A slice serves as a reference to an underlying array, which actually stores the slice’s data. Essentially, a slice provides a view into some or all of the elements of this array. So, when you create a slice, Go automatically handles the creation of the underlying array that holds the slice’s elements/data.
