Understanding Array Iteration in Golang

2023/08/17

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The article discusses a surprising behavior in Golang regarding array iteration. The author discovered that passing a pointer to the array instead of the array itself can significantly speed up the iteration process. Benchmark results show that for larger arrays, using a pointer can be up to three times faster. This behavior is due to the fact that the for loop in Golang creates a copy of the collection it receives, which can impact performance. This is different from languages like C++ or Java, where range loops use iterators to traverse existing collections. The article also highlights the consequences of this behavior, including a problem with a dynamic programming solution. By passing a pointer to the for loop, the issue is resolved. Overall, developers working with arrays in Golang should be aware of this behavior to optimize their code.