I disagree. I don't have your problem. Most (just about all) Go code I read uses short variable declarations.
There are several popular assistive technologies that you should try. For example, Visual Studio Code https://code.visualstudio.com/ GoLand https://www.jetbrains.com/go/ peter On Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 6:31:11 PM UTC-4 jlfo...@berkeley.edu wrote: > As a beginning Go programmer, I was initially attracted to the short > variable declaration syntax. > > It’s great for declaring variables of a simple type. What could be wrong > with letting the Go compiler infer a variable type by looking at what’s > being assigned to the variable, such as: > > func main() { > > x := 10 > > } > > Nothing. This is trivially the same as > > func main() { > > var x int > > x = 10 > > } > > I didn’t have to waste my precious time by entering an explicit type > declaration for “x” when the compiler already knew what it was. > > But what about something like > > import “os” > > func main() { > > file, _ := os.Open(os.Args[1]) > > } > > Again, nothing is wrong, at least not until I have to pass “file” to > another function. For example > > import “os” > > func main() { > > file, _ := os.Open(os.Args[1]) > > myfunc(file) > > } > > func myfunc(file ???) { > > } > > What type should I use to declare “file” in the parameter list for > myfunc()? As a new Go programmer I have to admit that I haven’t memorized > all the types used in the Go standard library. So, I have to break off > working on myfunc() to look up the type returned by os.Open(). This isn’t a > huge deal, but it’s a distraction and can waste time. I suppose that as I > gain experience with Go, I’ll have to do this less and less. > > But, it doesn’t matter how experienced I am with Go when I start using > user-defined types from packages that aren’t in the Go standard library. > For example (from Ben Hoyt’s excellent goawk program): > > import "github.com/benhoyt/goawk/parser" > > func main() { > > prog, err := parser.ParseProgram(fileReader.Source(), parserConfig) > > myfunc(prog) > > } > > func myfunc(prog ???) { > > } > > Since I’m going to have to look up the returned types of > parse.ParseProgram anyway, what’s the advantage of using a short variable > declaration? They just delay the inevitable. > > Short definitions detract from one of Go’s primary goals - readability. I > started using Go in the first place because I wanted a strongly typed > language with explicit type declarations. > > As a result of all this, I’ve started to avoid short variable > declarations, except when I’m initializing a variable inside an "if" > <https://go.dev/ref/spec#If_statements>, "for" > <https://go.dev/ref/spec#For_statements>, or "switch > <https://go.dev/ref/spec#Switch_statements>” statement, such as > > if v := math.Pow(x, n); v < lim { > > } > > for i := 0; i < 10; i++ { > > } > > switch os := runtime.GOOS; os { > > } > > In these cases I have no choice if I want to declare local temporary > variables since long declarations aren’t syntactically allowed. > > I doubt if this note will change anybody’s mind but it’s something to > think about. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "golang-nuts" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to golang-nuts+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/golang-nuts/f73aeed2-7784-47a8-9978-dc1b2178a24dn%40googlegroups.com.
