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Good explanation. As a note to others still confused, structs are passed by value by default in Go (what Anthony means by copy; it's not the original, remember that) and thus when we create a pointer we have a reference to the memory, which will not be cleared with the function stack.

@anthonygg_

7 ай бұрын

Thanks. 100% correct

@seymour_videos

7 ай бұрын

When he said that I immediately thought if Go does that by default. Thanks for clearing that up.

@yegorzakharov8514

4 ай бұрын

Go passes everything by value, not just structs

@TehKarmalizer

3 ай бұрын

@@yegorzakharov8514 so does C#, but some of its types are essentially pointers by default, so that’s what you’re copying as a parameter.

@cat-.-

2 ай бұрын

@@yegorzakharov8514yeah but sometimes the “data” being passed contains a pointer

For anyone looking to better understand Go, I'd recommend implementing OOP in pure C. Structs are essentially wrappers that hold data so you can easily manipulate related information. Methods are just functions with an inferred argument, and access modifiers are just structs that forward method calls to internal structs.

@avid459

4 ай бұрын

Where 'this' is the default argument.

Dude… thank you so much for this, cause I literally asked you about this yesterday and today you have a video on it. God bless man!

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Wish this video existed when I first started writing Go. Really well done and easy to understand for OOP programmers starting Go!

@DaniilHarik

8 ай бұрын

same words, accepted the Go way long ago, but the "syntax sugar" example made things connect in my head better

@avonflex5031

7 ай бұрын

How does he move the cursor quickly up and down while typing ?

@romanferguson4032

5 ай бұрын

it looks like he is using vim movement.@@avonflex5031

@anton9410

3 ай бұрын

@@avonflex5031 vim

@kurshadqaya1684

2 ай бұрын

@@avonflex5031, it is called VIM motions.

The structs in Go, C, Rust are just the data. In memory there only exists the data. In python and JavaScript each piece of object comes with the data just as the previous language, BUT it also has a bunch of other data that is not what u declared, for example a pointer to its class and the methods. For python for example it even holds onto the methods. 1st type of Language: [an object] - field 1 - field 2 And then somewhere else you have: - function 1 that takes in the type of struct as an argument Whereas the 2nd types of languages: [an object] - field 1 - field 2 - method 1 - method 2 - class metadata ….. This roughly can be what u can imagine the general differences

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the detailed amend

@manuelquiroga8022

8 ай бұрын

Cool explanation. Coming (and still mostly coding in) JS and Python, I'm loving Go's approach

@tomasslavik1119

7 ай бұрын

Anything is procedural underlying. Whole OOP is fake somehow, there are data and data and data and data. Rules of privilege modifications and metaclasses are kinda mix of syntactic sugar and compiler/interpreter rules, which don't allow to compile run something which is completely possible if written in asm or something. Can't access private member? Nothing existing in C. C program usually can get in all memory program get from OS, there is nothing banned. OOP is cannot be done or implemented in asm, it's completely in scope of interpreter/compiler, but everything ends as asm code (or VM bytecode of you want) - but everything at the end, before executing, is machine code or one step before machine code - and there is no way how to do OOP in machine code, it can be only do by higher level filter which dones't allow somethinf what not fit OOP paradigm but in fact it is still doable by machine code and computer itself. So behind everything, from OOP to functional approach, is just a C-like or asm approach - memory and functions. Nothing more.

@adexitum

6 ай бұрын

But if struct has methods attached to it, then every object of that type will have some data about its methods silently embedded by compiler? So it's not like in Go "objects" have only fields while in JS they've also got methods and class metadata... Or am I missing something?

@axisaligned9799

6 ай бұрын

@@adexitum im not sure I understand the question, the structs in Go, Rust, C are only the fields. Since the compiler always knows the type it does not need to embed the methods in the struct itself. if you use interfaces the struct WILL contain extra vtable data to be able to know which method to call. in JS its prototype-based so each object points to the class it belongs to and from there u can figure out which methods it has. but you can also dynamically add and remove methods, especially in python. so the objects are usually alot more bloated due to the dynamic and flexible nature of them

One thing that I like about hanging functions off of structs is that code bases are far more discoverable via lsp

@ES-eb6pb

7 ай бұрын

yeah dont take the advise of this youtuber, seems dumb advice tbh

This was the first in a series of big breakthroughs for me using GO. Thank you, Anthony!

I come from a Python background. When I started learning Go, I found myself constantly comparing its features with Python, which made my understanding a bit difficult. However, this video completely changed my perspective on how I should approach learning Golang.🙇

@dejfcold

8 ай бұрын

I don't have a py background, but also compared it to py :D

I am not usually one to wax poetic about programming languages, but this video is really something cool. When you were showing that func (book Book) saveBook() {} is the same as func saveBook(book *Book) {} everything feel into place in my mind

I struggled to understand pointers and your explanation was mind opening. Kudos.

I saw a comment saying interfaces, i think you should show when to use interfaces and methods. Good video.

Your examples made my confusions alot clear, ty alot

Short explanation: It's like C

Fabulous tip! If I understood it correctly… It reminds me of Python programming when I need to think about dictionaries; on Bash, I think about IFS (word handling via word-splitting).

It's also good to compare Go structs with interfaces in JS. Structs are just describing custom data types allowing us to make entities we are comfortable to work with

@eastern_european1968

6 ай бұрын

Now, that is a better explanation. Little nitpicking though, it's Typescript's feature. The interfaces are removed when transpilling TS → JS, as JS has no code structure like that.

Thnak you for your content! Always useful videos. Keep up the good work! 🚀

if I'm not wrong, I visualized the struct as a columns in a table with different data types and you use functions to insert data .

Just fumbled around about this topic and the algorithm bless me with this vid. Thanks!

@anthonygg_

Ай бұрын

🤩

I am starting out learning with Golang. I've completed the CompTIA ITF+ and Sec+, so I had to learn some python, and I've made a few tiny python projects (shh, but mostly with the help of chatgippity) I've studied enough to understand some of the fundamentals, and I've seen enough coding to were i feel like I know enough to actually start coding (and i know that can be wrong to do in some settings, but since i have the foresight to know this, assume it's okay for me to do this), and I was just wondering, what do you recommend I use to study? W3Schools + all possible sources + official go site? Thanks in advance.

Thanks man, I've started learning Go (coming from C#, C and Python) and this video just unlocked my light bulb moment

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

Happy I could help out. You will do great coming from those languages.

Loved it, you cleared it up pretty well! Kudos to you!

I am coming from PHP so these concepts feel really at home for me. Starting to learn Go and excited to see i am getting it from the start

Hey thanks for that great video i just started with go. I was wondering how the compiler makes the link beween a pointer and the field issaved. Since the parameter is of type pointer the pointer itself does not hold a value or a field. Is there no need to point to a value first before changing the data? like func (book *Book){ *book.issaved= true }

I realy learned alot from you thank you so much! keep up the good work!

This channel is a gem - binging all your videos as a Go learner

@anthonygg_

7 ай бұрын

Good luck my man

This is very importand fundamental concept that we should to know and not break using approaches from other languages. Keep it simple!

I enjoyed the way you explained for better understanding. Thanks!!

The most important thing is missing - the difference between classes and structs is not explained, superficially at least.

Hi @anthonygg_, Can we mutate the data in the structs without encapsulation ? by making the fields public without writing func with pointers to the struct ? It is a good approach to use a global state shared in the app ?

Arguably it makes sense to also explain why you would use one over the other if they are the same. It does not make sense to call the other function "saveBook". Since it has a namespace it makes sense to call it "save". People coming from C know the pain of adding pseudo namespace to functions. And the joy of explaining to a beginner that all these books are different things "function saveBook( book *Book)" Very often what people like about object oriented programming are not mainly object themselves, but the syntax. Even some functional languages (.e.g Elixir) have adopted some kind of postfix notation because it represents the flow of data transformation from left to right. e.g. "books.first.title.toUppercase"

If you want to master Go, learn from its direct ascendent: Oberon. But, great points you brought.

I am working on Golang for 1 year and now I know that my understanding was totally wrong....one of the most required Golang videos if you are working on already written Go code. Thanks @Anthony GG

As someone deeply rooted in functional programming, I've developed a strong preference for immutable state, always returning new instances rather than mutating, and maintaining function purity. We've recently incorporated Go into our stack, and I'm finding the transition intriguing but challenging, given Go's procedural nature. I'm keen to adapt my FP principles within Go's framework. Does anyone have tips or experiences to share on approaching Go from a functional perspective?

Hi @anthony the things is we written some test case using go Lang but when some of the function reading the file so with test cases it's given path error, my pkg it's in root folder can you help me here

When using SDKs, then most of the time instead of finding pure functions, you get structs that wrap methods e.g. myDbConnection.PutItem(context.TODO, ¶ms) instead of dbpackage.PutItem(myDbConnection, context, ¶ms). Do you consider this bad, as it follows the "bad practice" pattern you showed with the book example in the video?

My main issue with Go is that pointers overload so many concepts: - Nullable fields use pointers so that you can have nil | something - Mutability is determined (as you point out) by whether I pass a pointer or not - Sidenote here being that if I don't want to write Java style getters all fields need to be exported and therefore mutable by anyone - Passing by reference for optimisation purposes on large structs means passing in a pointer Especially the last thing really screws up the first 2. You might have a nice, non-nullable struct that is safe to pass around but for some reason it grows and now should be a pointer. all safety gets thrown out of the window. Go makes it very challenging to write safe code.

@eastern_european1968

6 ай бұрын

Minor issue: Go uses "nil" instead of more sane "null" (if only I could get a nickel for every time I type null instead of nil. )

Good explanation. Method definitions perhaps are a bit more than syntactic sugar e.g. code organization for composition (interfaces).

When I first started learning golang I was absolutely flabbergasted that there was no concept of class inheritance. Really had get on-board with composition.

I am really proud of you, that you understood the concept of stack and that everything is data in your computer, but I do not personally think it is something extraordinary

Thanks for the video. Took me a couple mins to realize its "classes", not "clauses" :)

Is an alternative approach to return the modified copy of book and track the flow of data through the application? It then becomes a immutable action, rather than a mutation of the pointer value which can lead to sources of bugs.

Anthony, what;s your vscode theme?

So then which way do I make the function? Is it like a best practice thing or what

This was a great explanation for me to understand things better.

So, what is the common GO way of manipulating structs? Or is it just a personal preference whether a function or method is used?

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

U should use the Go method receivers. But I wanted to show that changing the syntax could give newcomers a better understanding whats going on

@chandler828

8 ай бұрын

Like Anthony mentioned in a previous video, receivers are simply syntactical sugar for passing the struct to the function as a parameter. Whether that be a pointer or not. But, the go idiomatic way is definitely receivers. Lends to better readability.

@and1595

8 ай бұрын

gotcha, thank you

I thought you switched to neovim? What made you go back to vscode?

Please don't be mad cause I'm learning Go currently. But does pointers replace Classes? like for pointer it points to the original "Book" and a class you can point to the original "Book" or make a copy of it?

@anthonygg_

5 ай бұрын

Why would I be mad? 😊. No pointers do not replace classes. Pointers allow you to update memory directly.

By adding methods to the structure, it can satisfy some interface else it is just plain data.

@rban123

8 ай бұрын

even if it doesnt have methods it can still satisfy an interface, if said interface doesnt have methods

I kinda feel it was helpful for me to have learned C language very early in my programming journey. I can understand why folks who started with other languages might have difficulty grasping GO language.

very great explanation! i was a bit confused because i always compared to OOP and never made any sense xd

@anthonygg_

6 ай бұрын

Thank you

amazing video, thanks! Anthony i was trying to buy your course but 50% discount wasnt working anymore

I am shifting from typescript to go and this concept really help me thanks brother

Thanks a lot for the video!!!!

This is pretty much like C# with the only difference that it seems that Go is using value types by default. For example "class" in C# is reference type, while there is still "struct" which is value type. Also I'm not sure how Go exactly deals with concurrency, because the way you are showing how to modify the "Book" by it's pointer can cause concurrency issues in C#. Better approach IMO is to create a new "Book" and return it and not mutate the state of the existing "Book" (I'm sure you know it, but I wonder if this paradigm is the same in GoLang). Also in C# we now have "record" which allows us to mutate only the parts we want from an existing object and return a completely new one with copied values.

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

Pointers are always NOT safe for concurrent usage. Thats where channels come into play.

@majixx

8 ай бұрын

Thank you @@anthonygg_ . I'm kind of new to Go and I still don't know all of its capabilities. Will read what "channels" are.Thanks!

yes in JS and PY primitive data types are passed by value & non primitives are passed by reference automatically, one dont need to specify anything

@helmchen1239

7 ай бұрын

This is the same in Go, except that "structs" belong to the "value types", if you want to call them that. slices, maps, channels, pointers and functions would then be what is commonly called a "reference type" so you dont really have to worry about pointers with those.

@saitaro

2 ай бұрын

Nothing is passed by value in Python, the whole data model is referencial. If you need a copy, you have to directly use copy() or deepcopy() functions.

Basically, we are going to have to think more in terms of the memory(pointers, etc.) and not only values. Does this approach have any benefit to offer other than just making the writing and reading part easy when working with struct(or data structure)?

@eastern_european1968

6 ай бұрын

> think more in terms of the memory Not necessary. Go is garbage collected, and so you can code like you do in JavaScript or Python until you are ready for pointers. I am starting out with Go and I apply the same rules as JavaScript: Simply copy values of primitives / literals (int, float, bool, byte...) and for something bigger I use pointers & references (structures, slices, maps...) I really like the explanation of pointers here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/pYh6rNaxervRkbw.html

A lot of your explanations makes sense and I can agree. Coming from Java (especially Spring Boot 😒 ) and coding in Go for about 2,5 years now I am a bit confused. Lets assume you would save the book from your example in a database (for example a MongoDB or Postgres). My approach is to create a BookRepositoryInterface and a BookRepository which of course implements the interface. The Repository would have a save(book *Book) function. The database client would be set as a field in the repository (simple dependency injection). Of course this is simply imitating the practices from Java in Go, but I haven't found a better way till now. How would you achieve a "real" save to a database with your approach? I think it is a little bit abstract without a real world example. You need a client which manages the database communication and preferable you want only one and don't create new connections for every instance of the book struct so you would not loose performance.

@maximilianosorich554

8 ай бұрын

I haven't touched Golang yet... but It seems the man of the video is being dogmatic. He talks about syntactic sugar as it should be prohibited... all high level language ARE SYNTACTIC SUGAR. And when talking about testing... how would you mock for unit testing... or you don't unit test... This man is crazy... Tomorrow I will take Golang to start learning, but I have seen other opinions opposed to the one presented here... For this man Clean Architecture would be shit

@franciscoflamenco

7 ай бұрын

@@maximilianosorich554 Not to be rude, but I think you didn't understand the video if you think he's making a point about (let alone against) syntactic sugar. He's merely explaining the difference between passing by reference vs. passing by value, which is something you don't usually have to think about in the higher level oop languages he mentioned.

What extension/config are you using to emulate Vim modal editing within VSCode?

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

Default VIM plugin that comes with VSCODE

@Origin211

8 ай бұрын

@@anthonygg_thx a lot! Very useful content❤

Go is actually more like C than anything else. Except 1000 times better!

Great explainer video!! Keep up the good work!!

Good video. Can you do interfaces?

hi Anthony, what is the colorscheme u are using in the video?

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

Gruvbox the hard contrast one

Structs seem very similar to C/C++, or Cobol, or Fortran in their usage. Is that true?

Good explanation, however, you missed showing how the two variations of the func are called.

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

True. But I have several videos covering this aswel. This video was a specific exercise taking a step back

I fail to understand what are the advantages or disadvantages between the first and second function implementation. They are declared differently but act the same no?

@anthonygg_

4 ай бұрын

Yes. They behave the same.

so the conclusion is that Book is not a "blueprint" as called in oop languages, structs are just not a primitive data type but just a "advanced" data type that holds one or more primitive data types for easier usage. Im new to golang and this is how I understood this, please correct me if im wrong.

Take my subscription mate. I am starting with Go. I hope that this language will help me get out of the box of the OOP models entities etc and see the real code/architecture behind it. I feel in trap with MVC Laravel. I feel that I need to escape from this approach and go to something new. Hope the best.

How is sending pointer receiver different or worse than sending a pointer function argument? Main thing I understand is that to pass the pointer if you want to update original data in the function.

@anthonygg_

4 ай бұрын

No difference.

While its a good explaination i find it important for go coders to understand when its the right approach (many cases) and when its the better approach or lets say the more fitting with package scoped variables. If your working in a single instance, lets say your core component, you probably dont need a core factory since your application is running with one singular core. therefor using an object oriented approach for this package would be an uneccessary overhead and therefor should not be done. I just add this because i see alot of go projects especially new ones which tend to 'over oop' everything just for the sake off. You need to balance it out based on your needs. Btw great video .)

that's true of most oop languages, they pass the "this" pointer in every method signature under the hood. only difference is that the methods are mapped directly to the type's instance. Most languages actually do something closer to what go does (as compared to the mainstream oop languages named). Sadly go lacks some extremely useful type constructs like tagged unions and is very naive in his type design.

@metaltyphoon

8 ай бұрын

To add more to this, most oop languages a class could have a “hidden” vtable pointer for any methods that are overridden by the derived class. Since go doesnt allow inheritance this doesnt exist. Simply put: Go struct is a “class” without inheritance and which allow you to specify read only methods.

@tomasslavik1119

7 ай бұрын

I love this C approach. Doing everything manually. You can fully make OOP in C, with only one reason - when you try something like access private member from outside, compiler/interpreter of OOP language doesn't allow it. C allows it. So private loses its sense. But all things like constructor, inheritance, polymorphism and stuff, it can be all simulated in C - and even OOP languages compile into byte/machine code with machine/procedural approach, with a boilerplate and bloat of helping tables and tables and tables and tables... and whole stuff made just to make classes working. But it's just only a layer of abstraction, nothing more.

Hi, what's this theme's name? Can someone provide info about VSC plugin name/url? Thx in advance

@anthonygg_

7 ай бұрын

Gruvbox

I looked it up and it seems function is the better way because you need to explicitly pass the pointer, isn't explicity better? Plus the syntax is similar to other languages.

so tell me why we can't call method like a normal function in golang????

Brother .....❤ more videos this simple and bird eye view teaching ...

Brilliant explainer! Thanks.

so you use both? the more like function "all tiems", in FRONT, kind of public and the other like a interface ...

Thanks for the video! I'd like to say, that methods aren't exactly a syntactic sugar. They add methods, which modifies the type info, as could be seen from the reflection. Regardless of that, adding a save method to a model isn't nice in any language, not just Go - we don't know how this book is gonna be serialized. Serialization should be either a function, or a method of a specific book serializer, but definitely not of the book. Models have to stay models in any language.

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

SaveBook is just a random name I came up with to be honest. You need to understand that explaining things to new people is an art on itself, they need to make connections inside their mind. Using these names and other simple explanations really helps them to get a better grasp of the matter. Once they get better they will do their own due diligence to see that certain terms have a more deeper underlying meaning.

@yarcat

8 ай бұрын

Uh, I understand! I like your vids - I'm amending, not criticizing. I don't feel empowered to criticize creations. But I feel like adding my 5 cents if I have something to add (-;

@anthonygg_

8 ай бұрын

@@yarcat I agree with you dont get me wrong. There a lot of things wrong with saveBook 😅.

Objects are objects, they expose behavior. Data is data. It doesn't matter which language you write. I recommend for you to look at domain driven design to distinguish them better.

Thank you for sharing!

Not just beginners, also senior engineers who never touch Go needs to think differently when writing golang, especially where they coming from OOP lang such as Java/Kotlin, etc

In the "good old days" the Golang approach would be called OBP ("object based approach/programming"-> encapsulation & abstraction) in contrary to the today's OOP ("object oriented approach/programming "-> encapsulation, abstraction + inheritance+ polymorphism). In OBP the focus is more in the interaction between object's than the taxonomy of objects into classes and class hierarchies. Unfortunately most programmers today a raise into OOP-thinking than understand first the OBP-thinking which is more fundamental and more near to the machine.

You really made things so much clearer. Thanks Dude keep up the good work 👍💯✨

This not only applies to Go. When you learn a new programming language, you'll have to think in a new way. Sticking to traditional OOP or FP is fine, but then you'll gonna miss the real benefits of that language. Programming paradigm and patterns are just concept. They are not a master key.

Well, the same applies to other languages really. Receiver functions and class methods in any language are _also_ just syntactic sugar, with varying degrees of abstraction and complexity...

thanks a log it was really good

Go seems to take the same approach as C you have structs and functions and that’s it

for a moment i thought 'The Rock' was teaching golang, good stuff though !

Can it be said a struct is an interface? I don't have much experience but it reminds me of C# but without the boilerplate.

@sanjeevdandin9350

3 ай бұрын

A struct is not an interface in golang structs are a way to structure your variable with custom data types. Golang has its own way of implementing interfaces.

@DevlogBill

3 ай бұрын

@@sanjeevdandin9350 Thanks for the explanation.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🤔 *Thinking in Go requires a different approach for those transitioning from languages like JavaScript, Python, C++, or C#.* 02:37 📦 *In Go, structures are not objects but simple data holders. They encapsulate basic data types like strings, integers, and booleans.* 05:57 ⚙️ *There are only two things you can do with a structure in Go: read data from it and write data into it. Both actions are performed using functions.* 08:37 🔍 *When modifying data in Go, using pointers is crucial to avoid modifying a copy of the structure, ensuring changes persist beyond the function's scope.* 10:44 🧰 *Golang revolves around structures, data, and functions. Understanding this paradigm is essential for effective Go programming.* Made with HARPA AI

Awesome thank you :)

I'm having trouble hearing the audio. It's a bit too quiet.

Really good information

02:25 You meant we should see structs... as a "structure" of data? lol Jokes aside, great video Anthony ❤

What is the VS Code Theme you are using?

@anthonygg_

6 ай бұрын

Gruvbox

@MohamedUsman

6 ай бұрын

@@anthonygg_ thank you

VSCode theme name?

I believe the word you were looking for was "functional". And what you were trying to say was "data oriented functional programming"

THANK YOU, FFFF THANK YOU

What is the theme of your vscode?

@anthonygg_

7 ай бұрын

Gruvbox

When I know it is just syntactic sugar, it makes much more sense 😊