The difference between a test and a benchmark

The last concept we will be looking at in this chapter is benchmarks. The testing package gives us access to benchmarks using the testing.B type. They have a signature very similar to tests:

func BenchmarkName(b *testing.B) {
  // implementation
}

The signature highlights the following requirements for Go benchmarks:

• Benchmarks are exported functions whose name begins with Benchmark.
• Benchmark names can have an additional suffix that specifies what the test is covering. The suffix must also begin with a capital letter, as we can see with Name.
• Benchmarks must take in a single parameter of the *testing.B type. As we’ve explained so far, this will be how the test interacts with the test runner. You can name the testing parameter however you want, but Go developers typically use b to denote it.
• Benchmarks must not have a return type.

Benchmarks are an important Go profiling tool

Tests verify...