new() vs make()
This post will briefly describe the differences between the
builtin new() and make() functions in Go.
It assumes that you have completed A Tour of Go
and have consulted relevant sections of Effective Go and
the target audience is primarily newcomers to the Go programming
language.
The builtin new(T) function
allocates “zeroed” storage for a new item of type
T and returns its address, a value of type *T.
In Go terminology, it returns a pointer to a newly
allocated zero value of type T. For example,
here are three different ways to create a pointer
p that points to a zeroed bytes.Buffer
value, each of which are equivalent:
// Allocate enough memory to store a bytes.Buffer value
// and return a pointer to the value's address.
var buf bytes.Buffer
p := &buf
// Use a composite literal to perform allocation and
// return a pointer to the value's address.
p := &bytes.Buffer{}
// Use the new function to perform allocation, which will
// return a pointer to the value's address.
p := new(bytes.Buffer)
The make() function, on the other hand, is a special built-in function
that is used to initialize slices, maps, and channels.
Note that make() can only be used to initialize
slices, maps, and channels, and that, unlike the new()
function, make() does not return a pointer.
Slices, maps, and channels can also be initialized using
a composite literal expressions, as well as with make(). Two
different (yet equivalent) ways to initialize a map m
which maps string keys to bool values are given
below as examples:
// Using make() to initialize a map.
m := make(map[string]bool, 0)
// Using a composite literal to initialize a map.
m := map[string]bool{}
You can also initialize maps with initial data using a composite literal, as shown below:
m := map[string]bool{
"java": false,
"go": true,
}
Let me know if you have any questionsin the comments below, and don’t forget to +1 this post if you found it helpful!
Recommended Readings:
- The following sections in Effective Go:
- The following sections in the Go Programming Language Specification: