Passing pointers is typically a code smell in Go, given that the "don't communicate by sharing, share by communicating" hinges on copying values when passed int

Passing pointers is typically a code smell in Go, given that the "don't communicate by sharing, share by communicating" hinges on copying values when passed into e.g channels so as not to have mutexes everywhere, which would defeat the purpose of such a design. Not that you should not have mutexes in idiomatic Go, but they usually have to be warranted for.