Pointers and structures
Pointers are the number one source of a headache of every C or C++ programmer. But they are one of the main tools to achieve high-performance code in non-garbage-collected languages. Fortunately for us, Go's pointers have achieved the best of both worlds by providing high-performance pointers with garbage-collector capabilities and easiness.
On the other side for its detractors, Go lacks inheritance in favor of composition. Instead of talking about the objects that are in Go, your objects have other . So, instead of having a car structure that inherits the class vehicle (a car is a vehicle), you could have a vehicle structure that contains a car structure within.
What is a pointer? Why are they good?
Pointers are hated, loved, and very useful at the same time. To understand what a pointer is can be difficult so let's try with a real world explanation. As we mentioned earlier in this chapter, a pointer is a like a mailbox. Imagine a bunch of mailboxes in a building; all...
