Did you read my comment? References are nothing special, they are are simply pointers that hide the pointer and usually the receiving definition makes the deci

Did you read my comment? References are nothing special, they are are simply pointers that hide the pointer and usually the receiving definition makes the decision about whether a pointer of a copy is passed. In Go the type is just a wrapper around a pointer, making it function like a reference in all cases. In go some types are simply defined as pointers, so they are technically always passed by value and there is never any magic about whether they are passed by value or referenced. It is always a value consisting of a reference. A map is a pointer that is passed by value, along with slices and channels. 100% of the time.