In computer RAM, we have cells and addresses.
Cells are where values are stored and addresses are how values are accessed.
A pointer in Golang is a variable that is used to exclusively store the memory adresss of another variable.
To make it short : “a pointer is a ‘data item’ that specifies the location of another ‘data item’ " .
For instance, in the case of concurrency , pointers are used to share data like slices or maps
between goroutines facilitating concurrent manipulation and access to those structures,
notwithstanding the need for concurrent access to be synchronized to avoid race conditions.
Pointers in Go allow for the passing of references to variables rather than copies.
About ‘pointer receivers’ and how methods works with pointers in go :
func (v *MyType)Method() {
...
}
In Golang, a pointer receiver refers to a method that has a pointer type as its receiver.
This concept is paramount when we want to modify the value that the receiver points to, or
when we want to avoid copying the value on each methods' call especially for large structs.
Unlike value receivers, pointer receivers allow methods to modify the original variable.
This is particulary useful when we need to change the state of a struct in a method.
-Efficiency: ADTs can grow in size. Using a pointer receiver avoids copying the entire
data struct each time a method is invoked.
-Consistency: some of the methods you will use to code ADTs, like a typical ‘Search’ method
will not modify the state so they might not need to modify the receiver.
But, to avoid confusion , it is better to use a pointer receiver nonetheless.
-Concurrency considerations :
When using data structures in concurrent environments , pointer receivers are essential
for ensuring that modifications are consistent and visible across all goroutines.
-Recusive nature: Many operations on trees such as searching, inserting, deleting, are naturally recursive. Pointer receivers allow for direct and efficient manipulation of the nodes and pointers within the tree.