[go-nuts] Should I care about return T or *T

(...)
As you might expect, there really isn't a single answer; it depends on
what an Item is, and how the data is expected to be moved/copied in
the algorithms that use it. With []Item, all the data is contiguous in
a single block, which is a significant advantage. But then, it means
that when you append an item to the slice, you're really appending a
copy of it, which isn't always okay. Also, if you do a lot of item
shuffling within that slice or other operations that force copying the
whole item rather than a pointer, it might compromise that initial
advantage.

In the end, as most things doing the best requires context. So, as a
rule of thumb, until you know best I suggest using []*Item whenever
you do need to preserve the original value instead of having a copy of
it, and []Item otherwise. Then, observe and profile to understand what
is going on.
That's an easy one: no! :-)


gustavo @ http://niemeyer.net