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| author | Rob Pike <r@golang.org> | 2009-10-14 11:53:55 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Rob Pike <r@golang.org> | 2009-10-14 11:53:55 -0700 |
| commit | 68c921e25cd7ed5da1ded92677b5c19960f214e5 (patch) | |
| tree | 4c52f2c4900cc181ebf456a2c4647693c0e71e68 /doc/go_lang_faq.html | |
| parent | f554ef78165500ff7ac1754aad66bd4acc3381c2 (diff) | |
| download | go-git-68c921e25cd7ed5da1ded92677b5c19960f214e5.tar.gz | |
add an entry in the lang faq about reference types.
remove a mention of sawzall in the tutorial.
R=rsc
DELTA=36 (14 added, 4 deleted, 18 changed)
OCL=35717
CL=35719
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/go_lang_faq.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/go_lang_faq.html | 14 |
1 files changed, 14 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/go_lang_faq.html b/doc/go_lang_faq.html index 5125d57696..21466437ff 100644 --- a/doc/go_lang_faq.html +++ b/doc/go_lang_faq.html @@ -354,6 +354,20 @@ will not invalidate any existing programs—but without a clear idea of what equality of structs and arrays should mean, it was simpler to leave it out for now. </p> +<h3 id="references"> +Why are maps, slices, and channels references while arrays are values?</h3> +<p> +There's a lot of history on that topic. Early on, maps and channels +were syntactically pointers and it was impossible to declare or use a +non-pointer instance. Also, we struggled with how arrays should work. +Eventually we decided that the strict separation of pointers and +values made the language harder to use. Introducing reference types, +including slices to handle the reference form of arrays, resolved +these issues. Reference types add some regrettable complexity to the +language but they have a large effect on usability: Go became a more +productive, comfortable language when they were introduced. +</p> + <h2 id="concurrency">Concurrency</h2> <h3 id="csp"> |