How Do Go's Interfaces and Go 1.18 Generics Enable Generic Function Programming?

Generic Functions in Go: Unveiling the Interplay of Interfaces and Go 1.18

In Go, the ability to operate on values of varying types is a crucial aspect of programming. This article explores the use of interfaces, a fundamental design concept in Go, to achieve this functionality.

Utilizing Interfaces for Generic Functions

As mentioned in the documentation, empty interfaces can accept values of any type. This stems from the fact that they lack any specific method requirements. Consider the following example:

func describe(i interface{}) {
    fmt.Printf("Type: %T | Value: %v\n", i, i)
}

This function can process values of different types, as demonstrated below:

describe(5) // "Type: int | Value: 5"
describe("test") // "Type: string | Value: test"

This approach provides a rudimentary form of generic functionality, allowing the same function to handle multiple types without requiring type-specific implementations.

Go 1.18: A New Era for Generic Programming

However, with the introduction of Go 1.18, a more explicit and powerful way of defining generic functions became available. This is achieved through the use of type parameters and generics.

package main

import (
    "fmt"
)

// T can be any type
func Print[T any](s []T) {
    for _, v := range s {
        fmt.Print(v)
    }
}

func main() {
    // Passing list of string works
    Print([]string{"Hello, ", "world\n"})

    // You can pass a list of int to the same function as well
    Print([]int{1, 2})
}

Output:

Hello, world
12

This new syntax enables the definition of generic functions that can operate on any type, further enhancing the flexibility and type safety of Go code. Generic functions in Go 1.18 provide a more concise and robust approach to handling multiple types, eliminating the need for type-specific function implementations.

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