Unlocking the Power of Struct Pointers in Go

Getting Started with Structs and Pointers

In the world of Go programming, structs play a vital role in storing variables of different data types. However, you can take it to the next level by creating a pointer variable of struct type. To master this concept, it’s essential to have a solid grasp of Go pointers and structs.

Creating a Struct Variable and a Pointer Variable

Let’s dive into an example to illustrate this concept. Suppose we have a Person struct with two members: name and age.

type Person struct {
    name string
    age  int
}

We can create a struct variable person1 and initialize its members with values. Then, we can create a pointer variable of the same struct type and assign the address of person1 to it.

person1 := Person{"John", 30}
ptr := &person1

The Magic of Printing the Pointer

When we print the pointer variable, what do we get? That’s right – the address of person1! The output will display the memory address where person1 is stored, along with its values.

fmt.Println(ptr) // Output: &{John 30}

Accessing Struct Members Using a Pointer

But that’s not all. We can also access individual members of the struct using the pointer. By employing the dot operator, we can retrieve the values of name and age members.

fmt.Println(ptr.name)  // Output: John
fmt.Println(ptr.age)   // Output: 30

An Alternative Way to Access Members

Did you know that you can also use the dereference operator (*) to access the members of the struct? This technique allows you to navigate the struct members using the pointer.

fmt.Println((*ptr).name)  // Output: John
fmt.Println((*ptr).age)   // Output: 30

Changing the Game: Modifying Struct Members

Now, let’s take it up a notch. We can utilize the pointer variable and the dot operator to modify the value of a struct member. For example, we can change the value of the age member to 25 using the pointer variable ptr.

ptr.age = 25
fmt.Println(person1.age) // Output: 25

By grasping the concept of struct pointers in Go, you’ll unlock new possibilities in your programming journey.