100 Go Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

3 Data types

This chapter covers

• Common mistakes related to basic types
• Fundamental concepts for slices and maps to prevent possible bugs, leaks, or inaccuracies
• Comparing values

Dealing with data types is a frequent operation for software engineers. This chapter delves into the most common mistakes related to basic types, slices, and maps. The only data type that we omit is strings because a later chapter deals with this type exclusively.

3.1 #17: Creating confusion with octal literals

Let’s first look at a common misunderstanding with octal literal representation, which can lead to confusion or even bugs. What do you believe should be the output of the following code?

sum := 100 + 010
fmt.Println(sum)

At first glance, we may expect this code ...