Summary

This chapter presented generics and gave you the rationale behind the invention of generics. Additionally, it presented the Go syntax for generics as well as some issues that might come up if you use generics carelessly.

While the Go community is still trying to figure out how to use generics, two things are important: first, you do not have to use generics if you do not want to or if you do not feel comfortable with them, and second, when you use generics the right way, you will write less code for supporting multiple data types.

Although a function with generics is more flexible, code with generics usually runs slower than code that works with predefined static data types. So, the price you pay for flexibility is execution speed. Similarly, Go code with generics has a longer compilation time than equivalent code that does not use generics. Once the Go community begins working with generics in real-world scenarios, the cases where generics offer the highest productivity...