Explore how Golang generics work

Golang is a very popular programming language. Its simplicity and efficiency have attracted many developers. However, Golang has not supported the function of generics for a long time, which has caused trouble to many developers. Until recently, Golang officially launched a design draft for generics and plans to add generic support in future versions. This article will explore how Golang generics work and help readers better understand through specific code examples.

1. The concept of Golang generics

Generics are a common concept in programming languages, which allow developers to write more versatile and flexible code. Simply put, generics parameterize the data types in the code so that the code can handle different types of data without repeatedly writing similar logic.

In Golang, the introduction of generics will allow developers to use generic types in functions, interfaces, structures, etc., thereby improving code reusability and readability.

2. Golang generic design principles

Golang’s generic design follows the following principles:

• Type safety: Golang generics are guaranteed to be protected during the compilation phase Type errors can be detected and type mismatch problems can be avoided at runtime.
• Performance optimization: Golang generics use type erasure technology to ensure that the specific type code generated by generic code has basically the same performance as non-generic code.
• Simple syntax: The syntax design of Golang generics is as simple and intuitive as possible to avoid cumbersome syntax structures.

3. Sample code of Golang generics

Below we use a simple example to demonstrate the working principle of Golang generics.

package main

import "fmt"

//Define a generic function Swap to swap the positions of two elements
func Swap[T any](a, b T) (T, T) {
    return b, a
}

func main() {
    //Test Swap function
    a, b := 1, 2
    fmt.Println("Before swap:", a, b)
    a, b = Swap(a, b)
    fmt.Println("After swap:", a, b)

    c, d := "hello", "world"
    fmt.Println("Before swap:", c, d)
    c, d = Swap(c, d)
    fmt.Println("After swap:", c, d)
}

In the above code, we define a generic function Swap, which accepts two parameters, swaps their positions and returns the result. Generic types are declared by using the any keyword within square brackets after the function name.

4. The use of Golang generics

In Golang's generic design, we can also use interfaces to implement generic data structures, such as generic slices, generic queues, etc.

package main

import "fmt"

type Stack[T any] []T

func (s *Stack[T]) Push(value T) {
    *s = append(*s, value)
}

func (s *Stack[T]) Pop() T {
    if len(*s) == 0 {
        return nil
    }
    index := len(*s) - 1
    value := (*s)[index]
    *s = (*s)[:index]
    return value
}

func main() {
    var stackStack[int]
    stack.Push(1)
    stack.Push(2)
    stack.Push(3)

    fmt.Println("Pop from stack:", stack.Pop())
    fmt.Println("Pop from stack:", stack.Pop())
}

In the above code, we define a generic data structure Stack, which can store elements of any type. Generic types are represented by using the any keyword in the type declaration.

Through the above examples, readers can more intuitively understand the working principle and usage of Golang generics. With the official support of Golang generics, I believe it will bring greater convenience and flexibility to developers.

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