Go Slices

Go (Golang) – Slices

Slices are one of the most important data structures in Go.
They are dynamic, flexible, and built on top of arrays.
In real-world Go programs, slices are used far more often than arrays.

1️⃣ What is a Slice?

A slice is a reference to a portion of an array.

✔ Dynamic size
✔ Reference type
✔ Powerful built-in support

2️⃣ Declaring & Initializing

Literal Initialization

Using make()

3️⃣ Length vs Capacity

• len → number of elements

• cap → total allocated space

4️⃣ Appending Elements

✔ Automatically grows capacity

5️⃣ Slicing an Array

6️⃣ Modifying Slice (Reference Behavior)

Slices share the same underlying array.

7️⃣ Copying Slices

Use copy() to avoid shared data.

8️⃣ Looping Through Slices

Using range

9️⃣ Removing Elements from Slice

Remove element at index i

🔟 Nil vs Empty

1️⃣1️⃣ GoSlice of Slices (2D Slice)

1️⃣2️⃣ Best Practices

✔ Use It instead of arrays
✔ Always reassign after append()
✔ Use copy() when isolation needed
✔ Be careful with slicing shared arrays

Summary

• Its are dynamic & flexible

• Built on arrays

• Share underlying memory

• Core data structure in Go