Go Programming Language For Dummies

Chapter 7

Defining the Blueprints of Your Data Using Structs

IN THIS CHAPTER

Defining structs for collections of items

Making a struct in Go

Copying a struct

Defining methods in structs

In the previous chapter, I tell you all about arrays and slices and show you how to group a collection of items together as a single unit. In this chapter, I fill you in on another way to represent your data: a struct. A struct (short for structure) is a used-defined type that allows you to group related data into a single logical unit. Here, I show you how to define and initialize a struct, make copies of a struct, define methods in a struct, and compare structs.

Defining Structs for a Collection of Items

Consider the following scenarios where you want to store the location of a point in a two-dimensional (2D) coordinate space. The x- and y-coordinates of the point can simply be stored using two variables:

pt1X := 3.1pt1Y := 5.7

If you have another point, you have another set of variables:

pt2X := 5.6pt2Y := 3.8

You’re using two variables to store the coordinates of a point: x and y. Because ...