Grouping Similar Data: Arrays and Slices

Introducing arrays and slices

There are times when we want to keep multiple values of the same data type under a single variable and access them using an index number. The simplest way to do that in Go is by using arrays or slices.

Arrays are the most widely used data structures and can be found in almost all programming languages due to their simplicity and speed of access. Go provides an alternative to arrays that is called a slice.

Arrays

Arrays in Go have the following characteristics and limitations:

• When defining an array variable, we must define its size. Otherwise, we should put [...] in the array declaration and let the Go compiler find out the length for us. So, we can create an array with four string elements, either as [4]string{"Zero", "One", "Two", "Three"} or as [...]string{"Zero", "One", "Two", "Three"}. If we put nothing in the square brackets, then a slice is going to be created instead. ...