4 ms·

Go doesn't really have pointers in the same manner as C, though, does it? As was as I was aware, you can only have a pointer to an actual object.

• enneff 15y ago
  Go allows you to take the address of any value. You just can't do pointer arithmetic like you can in C. That is, you can't address uninitialized memory.
  • ootachi 15y ago
    I assume you mean "any lvalue"? You can't take the address of rvalues, can you?
    • deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    • SteveMcQwark 15y ago
      Essentially, you are correct. Lvalues can have their address taken while rvalues cannot. However, the Go spec doesn't speak in terms of lvalue vs rvalue, it speaks in terms of the addressability of different kinds of expressions.
    • enneff 15y ago
      Go doesn't define "lvalues," in the spec, but it does define "addressability." My comment would be more accurate if I had said "Go lets you take the address of any value in memory." (stack or heap)
      • jganetsk 15y ago
        I don't think Go lets you take stack addresses. If you try to do that, it will copy the data structure onto the heap.
        • enneff 15y ago
          The compiler is free to optimize this how it sees fit. Taking the address of a value doesn't necessarily move it to the heap.
          • jganetsk 15y ago
            I imagine this optimization can only happen once escape analysis is performed. In the general case, address-of moves the data to the heap, or causes it to be stored on the heap in the first place. Correct?
            • enneff 15y ago
              Yes.