## Introduction

This is a reference manual for the Go programming language. For more information and other documents, see the Go home page.

Go is a general-purpose language designed with systems programming in mind. It is strongly typed and garbage-collected, and has explicit support for concurrent programming. Programs are constructed from packages, whose properties allow efficient management of dependencies. The existing implementations use a traditional compile/link model to generate executable binaries.

The grammar is compact and regular, allowing for easy analysis by automatic tools such as integrated development environments.

## Notation

The syntax is specified using Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF):

    Production  = production_name "=" Expression "." .
    Expression  = Alternative { "|" Alternative } .
    Alternative = Term { Term } .
    Term        = production_name | token [ "..." token ] | Group | Option | Repetition .
    Group       = "(" Expression ")" .
    Option      = "[" Expression "]" .
    Repetition  = "{" Expression "}" .

Productions are expressions constructed from terms and the following operators, in increasing precedence:

    |   alternation
    ()  grouping
    []  option (0 or 1 times)
    {}  repetition (0 to n times)

Lower-case production names are used to identify lexical tokens. Non-terminals are in CamelCase. Lexical symbols are enclosed in double `""` or back quotes ````.

The form `a ... b` represents the set of characters from `a` through `b` as alternatives.

## Source code representation

Source code is Unicode text encoded in UTF-8. The text is not canonicalized, so a single accented code point is distinct from the same character constructed from combining an accent and a letter; those are treated as two code points. For simplicity, this document will use the term character to refer to a Unicode code point.

Each code point is distinct; for instance, upper and lower case letters are different characters.

### Characters

The following terms are used to denote specific Unicode character classes:

    unicode_char   = /* an arbitrary Unicode code point */ .
    unicode_letter = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Letter" */ .
    unicode_digit  = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Digit" */ .

(The Unicode Standard, Section 4.5 General Category - Normative.)

### Letters and digits

The underscore character `_` (U+005F) is considered a letter.

    letter        = unicode_letter | "_" .
    decimal_digit = "0" ... "9" .
    octal_digit   = "0" ... "7" .
    hex_digit     = "0" ... "9" | "A" ... "F" | "a" ... "f" .

## Lexical elements

### Comments

There are two forms of comments. The first starts at the character sequence `//` and continues through the next newline. The second starts at the character sequence `/*` and continues through the character sequence `*/`. Comments do not nest.

### Tokens

Tokens form the vocabulary of the Go language. There are four classes: identifiers, keywords, operators and delimiters, and literals. White space, formed from blanks, tabs, and newlines, is ignored except as it separates tokens that would otherwise combine into a single token. Comments behave as white space. While breaking the input into tokens, the next token is the longest sequence of characters that form a valid token.

### Identifiers

Identifiers name program entities such as variables and types. An identifier is a sequence of one or more letters and digits. The first character in an identifier must be a letter.

    identifier    = letter { letter | unicode_digit } .

    a
    _x9
    ThisVariableIsExported
    αβ

Some identifiers are predeclared (§Predeclared identifiers).

### Keywords

The following keywords are reserved and may not be used as identifiers.

    break        default      func         interface    select
    case         defer        go           map          struct
    chan         else         goto         package      switch
    const        fallthrough  if           range        type
    continue     for          import       return       var

### Operators and Delimiters

The following character sequences represent operators, delimiters, and other special tokens:

    +    &     +=    &=     &&    ==    !=    (    )
    -    |     -=    |=     ||    <     <=    [    ]
    *    ^     *=    ^=     <-    >     >=    {    }
    /    <<    /=    <<=    ++    =     :=    ,    ;
    %    >>    %=    >>=    --    !     ...   .    :
         &^          &^=

### Integer literals

An integer literal is a sequence of one or more digits in the corresponding base, which may be 8, 10, or 16. An optional prefix sets a non-decimal base: `0` for octal, `0x` or `0X` for hexadecimal. In hexadecimal literals, letters `a-f` and `A-F` represent values 10 through 15.

    int_lit       = decimal_lit | octal_lit | hex_lit .
    decimal_lit   = ( "1" ... "9" ) { decimal_digit } .
    octal_lit     = "0" { octal_digit } .
    hex_lit       = "0" ( "x" | "X" ) hex_digit { hex_digit } .

    42
    0600
    0xBadFace
    170141183460469231731687303715884105727

### Floating-point literals

A floating-point literal is a decimal representation of a floating-point number. It has an integer part, a decimal point, a fractional part, and an exponent part. The integer and fractional part comprise decimal digits; the exponent part is an `e` or `E` followed by an optionally signed decimal exponent. One of the integer part or the fractional part may be elided; one of the decimal point or the exponent may be elided.

    float_lit    = decimals "." [ decimals ] [ exponent ] |
                   decimals exponent |
                   "." decimals [ exponent ] .
    decimals = decimal_digit { decimal_digit } .
    exponent = ( "e" | "E" ) [ "+" | "-" ] decimals .

    0.
    2.71828
    1.e+0
    6.67428e-11
    1E6
    .25
    .12345E+5

### Ideal numbers

Integer literals represent values of arbitrary precision, or ideal integers. Similarly, floating-point literals represent values of arbitrary precision, or ideal floats. These ideal numbers have no size or named type and cannot overflow. However, when (used in an expression) assigned to a variable or typed constant, the destination must be able to represent the assigned value.

Implementation restriction: A compiler may implement ideal numbers by choosing an internal representation with at least twice the precision of any machine type.

### Character literals

A character literal represents an integer value, typically a Unicode code point, as one or more characters enclosed in single quotes. Within the quotes, any character may appear except single quote and newline. A single quoted character represents itself, while multi-character sequences beginning with a backslash encode values in various formats.

The simplest form represents the single character within the quotes; since Go source text is Unicode characters encoded in UTF-8, multiple UTF-8-encoded bytes may represent a single integer value. For instance, the literal `'a'` holds a single byte representing a literal `a`, Unicode U+0061, value `0x61`, while `'ä'` holds two bytes (`0xc3` `0xa4`) representing a literal `a`-dieresis, U+00E4, value `0xe4`.

Several backslash escapes allow arbitrary values to be represented as ASCII text. There are four ways to represent the integer value as a numeric constant: `\x` followed by exactly two hexadecimal digits; `\u` followed by exactly four hexadecimal digits; `\U` followed by exactly eight hexadecimal digits, and a plain backslash `\` followed by exactly three octal digits. In each case the value of the literal is the value represented by the digits in the corresponding base.

Although these representations all result in an integer, they have different valid ranges. Octal escapes must represent a value between 0 and 255 inclusive. (Hexadecimal escapes satisfy this condition by construction). The `Unicode' escapes `\u` and `\U` represent Unicode code points so within them some values are illegal, in particular those above `0x10FFFF` and surrogate halves.

After a backslash, certain single-character escapes represent special values:

    \a   U+0007 alert or bell
    \b   U+0008 backspace
    \f   U+000C form feed
    \n   U+000A line feed or newline
    \r   U+000D carriage return
    \t   U+0009 horizontal tab
    \v   U+000b vertical tab
    \\   U+005c backslash
    \'   U+0027 single quote  (valid escape only within character literals)
    \"   U+0022 double quote  (valid escape only within string literals)

All other sequences are illegal inside character literals.

    char_lit         = "'" ( unicode_value | byte_value ) "'" .
    unicode_value    = unicode_char | little_u_value | big_u_value | escaped_char .
    byte_value       = octal_byte_value | hex_byte_value .
    octal_byte_value = `\` octal_digit octal_digit octal_digit .
    hex_byte_value   = `\` "x" hex_digit hex_digit .
    little_u_value   = `\` "u" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit .
    big_u_value      = `\` "U" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit
                               hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit .
    escaped_char     = `\` ( "a" | "b" | "f" | "n" | "r" | "t" | "v" | `\` | "'" | `"` ) .

    'a'
    'ä'
    '本'
    '\t'
    '\000'
    '\007'
    '\377'
    '\x07'
    '\xff'
    '\u12e4'
    '\U00101234'

The value of a character literal is an ideal integer, just as with integer literals.

### String literals

String literals represent ideal string values. Ideal strings do not have a named type but they are compatible with type `string` (§Type identity and compatibility). There are two forms: raw string literals and interpreted string literals.

Raw string literals are character sequences between back quotes ````. Within the quotes, any character is legal except back quote. The value of a raw string literal is the string composed of the uninterpreted characters between the quotes; in particular, backslashes have no special meaning and the string may span multiple lines.

Interpreted string literals are character sequences between double quotes `""`. The text between the quotes forms the value of the literal, with backslash escapes interpreted as they are in character literals (except that `\'` is illegal and `\"` is legal). The three-digit octal (`\000`) and two-digit hexadecimal (`\x00`) escapes represent individual bytes of the resulting string; all other escapes represent the (possibly multi-byte) UTF-8 encoding of individual characters. Thus inside a string literal `\377` and `\xFF` represent a single byte of value `0xFF`=255, while `ÿ`, `\u00FF`, `\U000000FF` and `\xc3\xbf` represent the two bytes `0xc3 0xbf` of the UTF-8 encoding of character U+00FF.

A sequence of string literals is concatenated to form a single string.

    StringLit              = string_lit { string_lit } .
    string_lit             = raw_string_lit | interpreted_string_lit .
    raw_string_lit         = "`" { unicode_char } "`" .
    interpreted_string_lit = """ { unicode_value | byte_value } """ .

    `abc`  // same as "abc"
    `\n
    \n`    // same as "\\n\n\\n"
    "\n"
    ""
    "Hello, world!\n"
    "日本語"
    "\u65e5本\U00008a9e"
    "\xff\u00FF"
    "Alea iacta est."
    "Alea " /* The die */ `iacta est` /* is cast */ "."  // same as "Alea iacta est."

These examples all represent the same string:

    "日本語"                                 // UTF-8 input text
    `日本語`                                 // UTF-8 input text as a raw literal
    "\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e"                    // The explicit Unicode code points
    "\U000065e5\U0000672c\U00008a9e"        // The explicit Unicode code points
    "\xe6\x97\xa5\xe6\x9c\xac\xe8\xaa\x9e"  // The explicit UTF-8 bytes

If the source code represents a character as two code points, such as a combining form involving an accent and a letter, the result will be an error if placed in a character literal (it is not a single code point), and will appear as two code points if placed in a string literal.

## Types

A type determines the set of values and operations specific to values of that type. A type may be specified by a (possibly qualified) type name (§Qualified identifier, §Type declarations) or a type literal, which composes a new type from previously declared types.

    Type      = TypeName | TypeLit | "(" Type ")" .
    TypeName  = QualifiedIdent.
    TypeLit   = ArrayType | StructType | PointerType | FunctionType | InterfaceType |
    	    SliceType | MapType | ChannelType .

Basic types such as `int` are predeclared (§Predeclared identifiers). Other types may be constructed from these, recursively, including arrays, structs, pointers, functions, interfaces, slices, maps, and channels.

A type may have a method set associated with it (§Interface types, §Method declarations). The method set of an interface type (§Interface types) is its interface. The method set of any other named type `T` consists of all methods with receiver type `T`. The method set of the corresponding pointer type `*T` is the set of all methods with receiver `*T` or `T` (that is, it also contains the method set of `T`). Any other type has an empty method set.

The static type (or just type) of a variable is the type defined by its declaration. Variables of interface type (§Interface types) also have a distinct dynamic type, which is the actual type of the value stored in the variable at run-time. The dynamic type may vary during execution but is always compatible with the static type of the interface variable. For non-interface types, the dynamic type is always the static type.

### Basic types

Basic types include traditional numeric types, booleans, and strings. All are predeclared.

### Numeric types

The architecture-independent numeric types are:

    uint8    the set of all unsigned  8-bit integers (0 to 255)
    uint16   the set of all unsigned 16-bit integers (0 to 65535)
    uint32   the set of all unsigned 32-bit integers (0 to 4294967295)
    uint64   the set of all unsigned 64-bit integers (0 to 18446744073709551615)

    int8     the set of all signed  8-bit integers (-128 to 127)
    int16    the set of all signed 16-bit integers (-32768 to 32767)
    int32    the set of all signed 32-bit integers (-2147483648 to 2147483647)
    int64    the set of all signed 64-bit integers (-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807)

    float32  the set of all valid IEEE-754 32-bit floating point numbers
    float64  the set of all valid IEEE-754 64-bit floating point numbers

    byte     familiar alias for uint8

Integer types are represented in the usual binary format; the value of an n-bit integer is n bits wide. A negative signed integer is represented as the two's complement of its absolute value.

There is also a set of numeric types with implementation-specific sizes:

    uint     either 32 or 64 bits
    int      either 32 or 64 bits
    float    either 32 or 64 bits
    uintptr  an unsigned integer large enough to store the uninterpreted bits of a pointer value

To avoid portability issues all numeric types are distinct except `byte`, which is an alias for `uint8`. Conversions are required when incompatible numeric types are mixed in an expression or assignment. For instance, `int32` and `int` are not the same type even though they may have the same size on a particular architecture.

### Booleans

The type `bool` comprises the Boolean truth values represented by the predeclared constants `true` and `false`.

### Strings

The `string` type represents the set of string values. Strings behave like arrays of bytes but are immutable: once created, it is impossible to change the contents of a string.

The elements of strings have type `byte` and may be accessed using the usual indexing operations (§Indexes). It is illegal to take the address of such an element, that is, even if `s[i]` is the `i`th byte of a string, `&s[i]` is invalid. The length of string `s` can be discovered using the built-in function `len(s)`. It is a compile-time constant if `s` is a string literal.

### Array types

An array is a numbered sequence of elements of a single type, called the element type. The number of elements is called the length and is never negative.

    ArrayType   = "[" ArrayLength "]" ElementType .
    ArrayLength = Expression .
    ElementType = Type .

The length is part of the array's type and must must be a constant expression that evaluates to a non-negative integer value. The length of array `a` can be discovered using the built-in function `len(a)`, which is a compile-time constant. The elements can be indexed by integer indices 0 through the `len(a)-1` (§Indexes).

    [32]byte
    [2*N] struct { x, y int32 }
    [1000]*float64

### Slice types

A slice is a reference to a contiguous segment of an array and contains a numbered sequence of elements from that array. A slice type denotes the set of all slices of arrays of its element type. A slice value may be `nil`.

    SliceType = "[" "]" ElementType .

Like arrays, slices are indexable and have a length. The length of a slice `s` can be discovered by the built-in function `len(s)`; unlike with arrays it may change during execution. The elements can be addressed by integer indices 0 through `len(s)-1` (§Indexes). The slice index of a given element may be less than the index of the same element in the underlying array.

A slice, once initialized, is always associated with an underlying array that holds its elements. A slice therfore shares storage with its array and with other slices of the same array; by contrast, distinct arrays always represent distinct storage.

The array underlying a slice may extend past the end of the slice. The capacity is a measure of that extent: it is the sum of the length of the slice and the length of the array beyond the slice; a slice of length up to that capacity can be created by `slicing' a new one from the original slice (§Slices). The capacity of a slice `a` can be discovered using the built-in function `cap(a)` and the relationship between `len()` and `cap()` is:

    0 <= len(a) <= cap(a)

The value of an uninitialized slice is `nil`. The length and capacity of a `nil` slice are 0. A new, initialized slice value for a given element type `T` is made using the built-in function `make`, which takes a slice type and parameters specifying the length and optionally the capacity:

    make([]T, length)
    make([]T, length, capacity)

The `make()` call allocates a new, hidden array to which the returned slice value refers. That is, calling `make`

    make([]T, length, capacity)

produces the same slice as allocating an array and slicing it, so these two examples result in the same slice:

    make([]int, 50, 100)
    new([100]int)[0:50]

### Struct types

A struct is a sequence of named elements, called fields, with various types. A struct type declares an identifier and type for each field. Within a struct, field identifiers must be unique.

    StructType = "struct" "{" [ FieldDeclList ] "}" .
    FieldDeclList = FieldDecl { ";" FieldDecl } [ ";" ] .
    FieldDecl = (IdentifierList Type | [ "*" ] TypeName) [ Tag ] .
    Tag = StringLit .

    // An empty struct.
    struct {}

    // A struct with 5 fields.
    struct {
    	x, y int;
    	u float;
    	A *[]int;
    	F func();
    }

A field declared with a type but no field identifier is an anonymous field. Such a field type must be specified as a type name `T` or as a pointer to a type name `*T`, and `T` itself may not be a pointer type. The unqualified type name acts as the field identifier.

    // A struct with four anonymous fields of type T1, *T2, P.T3 and *P.T4
    struct {
    	T1;        // the field name is T1
    	*T2;       // the field name is T2
    	P.T3;      // the field name is T3
    	*P.T4;     // the field name is T4
    	x, y int;
    }

The unqualified type name of an anonymous field must not conflict with the field identifier (or unqualified type name for an anonymous field) of any other field within the struct. The following declaration is illegal:

    struct {
    	T;         // conflicts with anonymous field *T and *P.T
    	*T;        // conflicts with anonymous field T and *P.T
    	*P.T;      // conflicts with anonymous field T and *T
    }

Fields and methods (§Method declarations) of an anonymous field are promoted to be ordinary fields and methods of the struct (§Selectors). The following rules apply for a struct type named `S` and a type named `T`:

- If `S` contains an anonymous field `T`, the method set of `S` includes the method set of `T`.
- If `S` contains an anonymous field `*T`, the method set of `S` includes the method set of `*T` (which itself includes the method set of `T`).
- If `S` contains an anonymous field `T` or `*T`, the method set of `*S` includes the method set of `*T` (which itself includes the method set of `T`).

A field declaration may be followed by an optional string literal tag, which becomes an attribute for all the identifiers in the corresponding field declaration. The tags are made visible through a reflection library (TODO: reference?) but are otherwise ignored.

    // A struct corresponding to the EventIdMessage protocol buffer.
    // The tag strings define the protocol buffer field numbers.
    struct {
    	time_usec uint64 "field 1";
    	server_ip uint32 "field 2";
    	process_id uint32 "field 3";
    }

### Pointer types

A pointer type denotes the set of all pointers to variables of a given type, called the base type of the pointer. A pointer value may be `nil`.

    PointerType = "*" BaseType .
    BaseType = Type .

    *int
    *map[string] *chan int

### Function types

A function type denotes the set of all functions with the same parameter and result types. A function value may be `nil`.

    FunctionType   = "func" Signature .
    Signature      = Parameters [ Result ] .
    Result         = Parameters | Type .
    Parameters     = "(" [ ParameterList ] ")" .
    ParameterList  = ParameterDecl { "," ParameterDecl } .
    ParameterDecl  = [ IdentifierList ] ( Type | "..." ) .

Within a list of parameters or results, the names (IdentifierList) must either all be present or all be absent. If present, each name stands for one item (parameter or result) of the specified type; if absent, each type stands for one item of that type. Parameter and result lists are always parenthesized except that if there is exactly one unnamed result that is not a function type it may writen as an unparenthesized type.

For the last parameter only, instead of a type one may write `...` to indicate that the function may be invoked with zero or more additional arguments of any type. If parameters of such a function are named, the final identifier list must be a single name, that of the `...` parameter.

    func ()
    func (x int)
    func () int
    func (string, float, ...)
    func (a, b int, z float) bool
    func (a, b int, z float) (bool)
    func (a, b int, z float, opt ...) (success bool)
    func (int, int, float) (float, *[]int)
    func (n int) (func (p* T))

### Interface types

An interface type specifies a method set called its interface. A variable of interface type can store a value of any type with a method set that is any superset of the interface. Such a type is said to implement the interface. An interface value may be `nil`.

    InterfaceType      = "interface" "{" [ MethodSpecList ] "}" .
    MethodSpecList     = MethodSpec { ";" MethodSpec } [ ";" ] .
    MethodSpec         = IdentifierList Signature | InterfaceTypeName .
    InterfaceTypeName  = TypeName .

    // A simple File interface
    interface {
    	Read, Write	(b Buffer) bool;
    	Close		();
    }

More than one type may implement an interface. For instance, if two types `S1` and `S2` have the method set

    func (p T) Read(b Buffer) bool { return ... }
    func (p T) Write(b Buffer) bool { return ... }
    func (p T) Close() { ... }

(where `T` stands for either `S1` or `S2`) then the `File` interface is implemented by both `S1` and `S2`, regardless of what other methods `S1` and `S2` may have or share.

A type implements any interface comprising any subset of its methods and may therefore implement several distinct interfaces. For instance, all types implement the empty interface:

    interface { }

Similarly, consider this interface specification, which appears within a type declaration to define an interface called `Lock`:

    type Lock interface {
    	Lock, Unlock	();
    }

If `S1` and `S2` also implement

    func (p T) Lock() { ... }
    func (p T) Unlock() { ... }

they implement the `Lock` interface as well as the `File` interface.

An interface may contain an interface type name `T` in place of a method specification. In this notation, `T` must denote a different interface type and the effect is equivalent to enumerating the methods of `T` explicitly in the interface.

    type ReadWrite interface {
    	Read, Write	(b Buffer) bool;
    }

    type File interface {
    	ReadWrite;  // same as enumerating the methods in ReadWrite
    	Lock;       // same as enumerating the methods in Lock
    	Close();
    }

### Map types

A map is an unordered group of elements of one type, called the value type, indexed by a set of unique keys of another type, called the key type. A map value may be `nil`.

    MapType     = "map" "[" KeyType "]" ValueType .
    KeyType     = Type .
    ValueType   = Type .

The comparison operators `==` and `!=` (§Comparison operators) must be fully defined for operands of the key type; thus the key type must be a basic, pointer, interface, map, or channel type. If the key type is an interface type, these comparison operators must be defined for the dynamic key values; failure will cause a run-time error.

    map [string] int
    map [*T] struct { x, y float }
    map [string] interface {}

The number of elements is called the length and is never negative. The length of a map `m` can be discovered using the built-in function `len(m)` and may change during execution. The value of an uninitialized map is `nil`.

Upon creation, a map is empty. Values may be added and removed during execution using special forms of assignment (§Assignments). A new, empty map value is made using the built-in function `make`, which takes the map type and an optional capacity hint as arguments:

    make(map[string] int)
    make(map[string] int, 100)

The initial capacity does not bound its size: maps grow to accommodate the number of items stored in them.

### Channel types

A channel provides a mechanism for two concurrently executing functions to synchronize execution and communicate by passing a value of a specified element type. A value of channel type may be `nil`.

    ChannelType   = Channel | SendChannel | RecvChannel .
    Channel       = "chan" ValueType .
    SendChannel   = "chan" "<-" ValueType .
    RecvChannel   = "<-" "chan" ValueType .

Upon creation, a channel can be used both to send and to receive values. By conversion or assignment, a channel may be constrained only to send or to receive. This constraint is called a channel's direction; either send, receive, or bi-directional (unconstrained).

    chan T         // can be used to send and receive values of type T
    chan <- float  // can only be used to send floats
    <-chan int     // can only be used to receive ints

The value of an uninitialized channel is `nil`. A new, initialized channel value is made using the built-in function `make`, which takes the channel type and an optional capacity as arguments:

    make(chan int, 100)

The capacity, in number of elements, sets the size of the buffer in the channel. If the capacity is greater than zero, the channel is asynchronous and, provided the buffer is not full, sends can succeed without blocking. If the capacity is zero or absent, the communication succeeds only when both a sender and receiver are ready.

For a channel `c`, the predefined function `close(c)` marks the channel as unable to accept more values through a send operation. After any previously sent values have been received, receives will return the zero value for the channel's type. After at least one such zero value has been received, `closed(c)` returns true.

## Properties of types and values

Two types may be identical, compatible, or incompatible. Two identical types are always compatible, but two compatible types may not be identical. Go is type safe: a value of one type cannot be assigned to a variable of an incompatible type, and two values of incompatible types cannot be mixed in binary operations.

### Type identity and compatibility

#### Type identity

Two named types are identical if their type names originate in the same type declaration (§Declarations and scope). A named and an unnamed type are never identical. Two unnamed types are identical if the corresponding type literals have the same literal structure and corresponding components have identical types. In detail:

- Two array types are identical if they have identical element types and the same array length.
- Two slice types are identical if they have identical element types.
- Two struct types are identical if they have the same sequence of fields, and if corresponding fields have the same names and identical types. Two anonymous fields are considered to have the same name.
- Two pointer types are identical if they have identical base types.
- Two function types are identical if they have the same number of parameters and result values and if corresponding parameter and result types are identical. All "..." parameters have identical type. Parameter and result names are not required to match.
- Two interface types are identical if they have the same set of methods with the same names and identical function types. The order of the methods is irrelevant.
- Two map types are identical if they have identical key and value types.
- Two channel types are identical if they have identical value types and the same direction.

#### Type compatibility

Type compatibility is less stringent than type identity: a named and an unnamed type are compatible if the respective type literals are compatible. In all other respects, the definition of type compatibility is the same as for type identity listed above but with ``compatible'' substituted for ``identical''.

Given the declarations

    type (
    	T0 []string;
    	T1 []string
    	T2 struct { a, b int };
    	T3 struct { a, c int };
    	T4 func (int, float) *T0
    	T5 func (x int, y float) *[]string
    )

these types are identical:

    T0 and T0
    []int and []int
    struct { a, b *T5 } and struct { a, b *T5 }
    func (x int, y float) *[]string and func (int, float) (result *[]string)

`T0` and `T1` are neither identical nor compatible because they are named types with distinct declarations.

These types are compatible:

    T0 and T0
    T0 and []string
    T3 and struct { a int; c int }
    T4 and func (x int, y float) *[]string

`T2` and `struct { a, c int }` are incompatible because they have different field names.

### Assignment compatibility

Values of any type may always be assigned to variables of compatible static type. Some types and values have conditions under which they may be assigned to otherwise incompatible types:

- A value can be assigned to an interface variable if the static type of the value implements the interface.
- The predeclared constant `nil` can be assigned to any pointer, function, slice, map, channel, or interface variable.
- A pointer `p` to an array can be assigned to a slice variable `v` with compatible element type if the type of `p` or `v` is unnamed. The slice variable then refers to the original array; the data is not copied.
- A bidirectional channel `c` can be assigned to a channel variable `v` with compatible channel value type if the type of `c` or `v` is unnamed.

### Comparison compatibility

Values of any type may be compared to other values of compatible static type. Values of numeric and string type may be compared using the full range of comparison operators as described in §Comparison operators; booleans may be compared only for equality or inequality.

Values of composite type may be compared for equality or inequality using the `==` and `!=` operators, with the following provisos:

- Arrays and structs may not be compared to anything.
- A slice value may only be compared explicitly against `nil`. A slice value is equal to `nil` if it has been assigned the explicit value `nil` or if it is a variable (or array element, field, etc.) that has not been modified since it was created uninitialized.
- Similarly, an interface value is equal to `nil` if it has been assigned the explicit value `nil` or if it is a variable (or array element, field, etc.) that has not been modified since it was created uninitialized.
- For types that can be compared to `nil`, two values of the same type are equal if they both equal `nil`, unequal if one equals `nil` and one does not.
- Pointer values are equal if they point to the same location.
- Function values are equal if they refer to the same function.
- Channel and map values are equal if they were created by the same call to `make` (§Making slices, maps, and channels). When comparing two values of channel type, the channel value types must be compatible but the channel direction is ignored.
- Interface values may be compared if they have compatible static types. They will be equal only if they have the same dynamic type and the underlying values are equal.

## Blocks

A block is a sequence of declarations and statements within matching brace brackets.

    Block = "{" StatementList "}" .

In addition to explicit blocks in the source code, there are implicit blocks:

1. The universe block encompasses all Go source text.
2. Each package (§Packages) has a package block containing all Go source text for that package.
3. Each file has a file block containing all Go source text in that file.
4. Each `if`, `for`, and `switch` statement is considered to be in its own implicit block.
5. Each clause in a `switch` or `select` statement acts as an implicit block.

Blocks nest and influence scoping (§Declarations and scope).

## Declarations and scope

A declaration binds an identifier to a constant, type, variable, function, or package. Every identifier in a program must be declared. No identifier may be declared twice in the same block, and no identifier may be declared in both the file and package block.

    Declaration   = ConstDecl | TypeDecl | VarDecl .
    TopLevelDecl  = Declaration | FunctionDecl | MethodDecl .

The scope of a declared identifier is the extent of source text in which the identifier denotes the specified constant, type, variable, function, or package.

Go is lexically scoped using blocks:

1. The scope of a predeclared identifier is the universe block.
2. The scope of an identifier denoting a constant, type, variable, or function declared at top level (outside any function) is the package block.
3. The scope of an imported package identifier is the file block of the file containing the import declaration.
4. The scope of an identifier denoting a function parameter or result variable is the function body.
5. The scope of a constant or variable identifier declared inside a function begins at the end of the ConstSpec or VarSpec and ends at the end of the innermost containing block.
6. The scope of a type identifier declared inside a function begins at the identifier in the TypeSpec and ends at the end of the innermost containing block.

An identifier declared in a block may be redeclared in an inner block. While the identifier of the inner declaration is in scope, it denotes the entity declared by the inner declaration.

The package clause (§Package clause) is not a declaration; the package name does not appear in any scope. Its purpose is to identify the files belonging to the same package (§Packages) and to specify the default name for import declarations.

### Label scopes

Labels are declared by labeled statements (§Labeled statements) and are used in the `break`, `continue`, and `goto` statements (§Break statements, §Continue statements, §Goto statements). In contrast to other identifiers, labels are not block scoped and do not conflict with identifiers that are not labels. The scope of a label is the body of the function in which it is declared and excludes the body of any nested function.

### Predeclared identifiers

The following identifiers are implicitly declared in the universe block:

    Basic types:
    	bool byte float32 float64 int8 int16 int32 int64
    	string uint8 uint16 uint32 uint64

    Architecture-specific convenience types:
    	float int uint uintptr

    Constants:
    	true false iota nil

    Functions:
    	cap close closed len make new panic panicln print println

### Exported identifiers

An identifier may be exported to permit access to it from another package using a qualified identifier. An identifier is exported if both:

1. the first character of the identifier's name is a Unicode upper case letter (Unicode class "Lu"); and
2. the identifier is declared in the package block or is a field or method of a type declared in that block.

All other identifiers are not exported.

### Const declarations

A constant declaration binds a list of identifiers (the names of the constants) to the values of a list of constant expressions (§Constant expressions). The number of identifiers must be equal to the number of expressions, and the nth identifier on the left is bound to value of the nth expression on the right.

    ConstDecl      = "const" ( ConstSpec | "(" [ ConstSpecList ] ")" ) .
    ConstSpecList  = ConstSpec { ";" ConstSpec } [ ";" ] .
    ConstSpec      = IdentifierList [ [ Type ] "=" ExpressionList ] .

    IdentifierList = identifier { "," identifier } .
    ExpressionList = Expression { "," Expression } .

If the type is omitted, the constants take the individual types of the corresponding expressions, which may be ideal integer or ideal float (§Ideal number). If the type is present, all constants take the type specified, and the types of all the expressions must be assignment-compatible with that type.

    const Pi float64 = 3.14159265358979323846
    const E = 2.718281828
    const (
    	size int64 = 1024;
    	eof = -1;
    )
    const a, b, c = 3, 4, "foo"  // a = 3, b = 4, c = "foo"
    const u, v float = 0, 3      // u = 0.0, v = 3.0

Within a parenthesized `const` declaration list the expression list may be omitted from any but the first declaration. Such an empty list is equivalent to the textual substitution of the first preceding non-empty expression list, and its type if any. Omitting the list of expressions is therefore equivalent to repeating the previous list. The number of identifiers must be equal to the number of expressions in the previous list. Together with the `iota` constant generator (§Iota) this mechanism permits light-weight declaration of sequential values:

    const (
    	Sunday = iota;
    	Monday;
    	Tuesday;
    	Wednesday;
    	Thursday;
    	Friday;
    	Partyday;
    	numberOfDays;  // this constant is not exported
    )

### Iota

Within a constant declaration, the predeclared pseudo-constant `iota` represents successive integers. It is reset to 0 whenever the reserved word `const` appears in the source and increments with each semicolon. It can be used to construct a set of related constants:

    const (            // iota is reset to 0
    	c0 = iota;  // c0 == 0
    	c1 = iota;  // c1 == 1
    	c2 = iota   // c2 == 2
    )

    const (
    	a = 1 << iota;  // a == 1 (iota has been reset)
    	b = 1 << iota;  // b == 2
    	c = 1 << iota;  // c == 4
    )

    const (
    	u       = iota * 42;  // u == 0     (ideal integer)
    	v float = iota * 42;  // v == 42.0  (float)
    	w       = iota * 42;  // w == 84    (ideal integer)
    )

    const x = iota;  // x == 0 (iota has been reset)
    const y = iota;  // y == 0 (iota has been reset)

Within an ExpressionList, the value of each `iota` is the same because it is only incremented at a semicolon:

    const (
    	bit0, mask0 = 1 << iota, 1 << iota - 1;  // bit0 == 1, mask0 == 0
    	bit1, mask1;                             // bit1 == 2, mask1 == 1
    	bit2, mask2;                             // bit2 == 4, mask2 == 3
    )

This last example exploits the implicit repetition of the last non-empty expression list.

### Type declarations

A type declaration binds an identifier, the type name, to a new type. TODO: what exactly is a "new type"?

    TypeDecl     = "type" ( TypeSpec | "(" [ TypeSpecList ] ")" ) .
    TypeSpecList = TypeSpec { ";" TypeSpec } [ ";" ] .
    TypeSpec     = identifier Type .

    type IntArray [16]int

    type (
    	Point struct { x, y float };
    	Polar Point
    )

    type TreeNode struct {
    	left, right *TreeNode;
    	value *Comparable;
    }

    type Comparable interface {
    	cmp(Comparable) int
    }

### Variable declarations

A variable declaration creates a variable, binds an identifier to it and gives it a type and optionally an initial value.

    VarDecl     = "var" ( VarSpec | "(" [ VarSpecList ] ")" ) .
    VarSpecList = VarSpec { ";" VarSpec } [ ";" ] .
    VarSpec     = IdentifierList ( Type [ "=" ExpressionList ] | "=" ExpressionList ) .

    var i int
    var U, V, W float
    var k = 0
    var x, y float = -1.0, -2.0
    var (
    	i int;
    	u, v, s = 2.0, 3.0, "bar"
    )

If a list of expressions is given, the variables are initialized by assigning those expressions to the variables (§Assignments). Otherwise, each variable is initialized to its zero value (§The zero value).

If the type is present, each variable is given that type. Otherwise, the types are deduced from the assignment of the expression list.

If the type is absent and the corresponding expression is a constant expression of ideal integer, float, or string type, the type of the declared variable is `int`, `float`, or `string` respectively:

    var i = 0       // i has type int
    var f = 3.1415  // f has type float
    var s = "OMDB"  // s has type string

### Short variable declarations

A short variable declaration uses the syntax:

    ShortVarDecl = IdentifierList ":=" ExpressionList .

It is a shorthand for a regular variable declaration with initializer expressions but no types:

    "var" IdentifierList = ExpressionList .

    i, j := 0, 10;
    f := func() int { return 7; }
    ch := make(chan int);
    r, w := os.Pipe(fd);  // os.Pipe() returns two values

Unlike regular variable declarations, a short variable declaration may redeclare variables provided they were originally declared in the same block with the same type, and at least one of the variables is new. As a consequence, redeclaration can only appear in a multi-variable short declaration. Redeclaration does not introduce a new variable; it just assigns a new value to the original.

    field1, offset := nextField(str, 0);
    field2, offset := nextField(str, offset);  // redeclares offset

Short variable declarations may appear only inside functions. In some contexts such as the initializers for `if`, `for`, or `switch` statements, they can be used to declare local temporary variables (§Statements).

### Function declarations

A function declaration binds an identifier to a function (§Function types).

    FunctionDecl = "func" identifier Signature [ Body ] .
    Body         = Block.

A function declaration may omit the body. Such a declaration provides the signature for a function implemented outside Go, such as an assembly routine.

    func min(x int, y int) int {
    	if x < y {
    		return x;
    	}
    	return y;
    }

    func flushICache(begin, end uintptr)  // implemented externally

### Method declarations

A method declaration binds an identifier to a method, which is a function with a receiver.

    MethodDecl = "func" Receiver identifier Signature [ Body ] .
    Receiver = "(" [ identifier ] [ "*" ] TypeName ")" .

The receiver type must be of the form `T` or `*T` where `T` is a type name. `T` is called the receiver base type or just base type. The base type must not be a pointer or interface type and must be declared in the same package as the method. The method is said to be bound to the base type and is visible only within selectors for that type (§Type declarations, §Selectors).

Given type `Point`, the declarations

    func (p *Point) Length() float {
    	return Math.sqrt(p.x * p.x + p.y * p.y);
    }

    func (p *Point) Scale(factor float) {
    	p.x = p.x * factor;
    	p.y = p.y * factor;
    }

bind the methods `Length` and `Scale` to the base type `Point`.

If the receiver's value is not referenced inside the the body of the method, its identifier may be omitted in the declaration. The same applies in general to parameters of functions and methods.

The type of a method is the type of a function with the receiver as first argument. For instance, the method `Scale` has type

    (p *Point, factor float)

However, a function declared this way is not a method.

## Expressions

An expression specifies the computation of a value by applying operators and functions to operands. An expression has a value and a type.

### Operands

Operands denote the elementary values in an expression.

    Operand    = Literal | QualifiedIdent | "(" Expression ")" .
    Literal    = BasicLit | CompositeLit | FunctionLit .
    BasicLit   = int_lit | float_lit | char_lit | StringLit .

### Constants

A constant is a literal of a basic type (including the predeclared constants `true`, `false` and `nil` and values denoted by `iota`) or a constant expression (§Constant expressions). Constants have values that are known at compile time.

### Qualified identifiers

A qualified identifier is an identifier qualified by a package name prefix.

    QualifiedIdent = [ PackageName "." ] identifier .
    PackageName = identifier .

A qualified identifier accesses an identifier in a separate package. The identifier must be exported by that package, which means that it must begin with a Unicode upper case letter.

    Math.Sin

### Composite literals

Composite literals construct values for structs, arrays, slices, and maps and create a new value each time they are evaluated. They consist of the type of the value followed by a brace-bound list of composite elements. An element may be a single expression or a key-value pair.

    CompositeLit  = LiteralType "{" [ ElementList ] "}" .
    LiteralType   = StructType | ArrayType | "[" "..." "]" ElementType |
                    SliceType | MapType | TypeName .
    ElementList   = Element { "," Element } [ "," ] .
    Element       = [ Key ":" ] Value .
    Key           = Expression .
    Value         = Expression .

The LiteralType must be a struct, array, slice, or map type (the grammar enforces this constraint except when the type is given as a TypeName). The types of the expressions must be assignment compatible to the respective field, element, and key types of the LiteralType; there is no additional conversion. The key is interpreted as a field name for struct literals, an index for array and slice literals, and a key for map literals. For map literals, all elements must have a key. It is an error to specify multiple elements with the same field name or constant key value.

For struct literals the following rules apply:

- A literal which does not contain any keys must list an element for each struct field in the order in which the fields are declared.
- If any element has a key, every element must have a key.
- A literal which contains keys does not need to have an element for each struct field. Omitted fields get the zero value for that field.
- A literal may omit the element list; such a literal evaluates to the zero value for its type.
- It is an error to specify an element for a non-exported field of a struct belonging to a different package.

Given the declarations

    type Point struct { x, y, z float }
    type Line struct { p, q Point }

one may write

    origin := Point{};                            // zero value for Point
    line := Line{origin, Point{y: -4, z: 12.3}};  // zero value for line.q.x

For array and slice literals the following rules apply:

- Each element has an associated integer index marking its position in the array.
- An element with a key uses the key as its index; the key must be a constant integer expression.
- An element without a key uses the previous element's index plus one. If the first element has no key, its index is zero.

Taking the address of a composite literal (§Address operators) generates a unique pointer to an instance of the literal's value.

    var pointer *Point = &Point{y: 1000};

The length of an array literal is the length specified in the LiteralType. If fewer elements than the length are provided in the literal, the missing elements are set to the zero value for the array element type. It is an error to provide elements with index values outside the index range of the array. The notation `...` specifies an array length equal to the maximum element index plus one.

    buffer := [10]string{};               // len(buffer) == 10
    intSet := [6]int{1, 2, 3, 5};         // len(intSet) == 6
    days := [...]string{"Sat", "Sun"};    // len(days) == 2

A slice literal describes the entire underlying array literal. Thus, the length and capacity of a slice literal is the maximum element index plus one. A slice literal has the form

    []T{x1, x2, ... xn}

and is a shortcut for a slice operation applied to an array literal:

    [n]T{x1, x2, ... xn}[0 : n]

A parsing ambiguity arises when a composite literal using the TypeName form of the LiteralType appears in the condition of an "if", "for", or "switch" statement, because the braces surrounding the expressions in the literal are confused with those introducing a block of statements. To resolve the ambiguity in this rare case, the composite literal must appear within parentheses.

    if x == (T{a,b,c}[i]) { ... }
    if (x == T{a,b,c}[i]) { ... }

Examples of valid array, slice, and map literals:

    // list of prime numbers
    primes := []int{2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19, 991};

    // vowels[ch] is true if ch is a vowel
    vowels := [128]bool{'a': true, 'e': true, 'i': true, 'o': true, 'u': true, 'y': true};

    // the array [10]float{-1, 0, 0, 0, -0.1, -0.1, 0, 0, 0, -1};
    filter := [10]float{-1, 4: -0.1, -0.1, 9: -1};

    // frequencies in Hz for equal-tempered scale (A4 = 440Hz)
    noteFrequency := map[string]float{
    	"C0": 16.35, "D0": 18.35, "E0": 20.60, "F0": 21.83,
    	"G0": 24.50, "A0": 27.50, "B0": 30.87,
    }

### Function literals

A function literal represents an anonymous function. It consists of a specification of the function type and a function body.

    FunctionLit = FunctionType Body .

    func (a, b int, z float) bool { return a*b < int(z) }

A function literal can be assigned to a variable or invoked directly.

    f := func(x, y int) int { return x + y }
    func(ch chan int) { ch <- ACK } (reply_chan)

Function literals are closures: they may refer to variables defined in a surrounding function. Those variables are then shared between the surrounding function and the function literal, and they survive as long as they are accessible.

### Primary expressions

    PrimaryExpr =
    	Operand |
    	PrimaryExpr Selector |
    	PrimaryExpr Index |
    	PrimaryExpr Slice |
    	PrimaryExpr TypeAssertion |
    	PrimaryExpr Call .

    Selector       = "." identifier .
    Index          = "[" Expression "]" .
    Slice          = "[" Expression ":" Expression "]" .
    TypeAssertion  = "." "(" Type ")" .
    Call           = "(" [ ExpressionList ] ")" .

    x
    2
    (s + ".txt")
    f(3.1415, true)
    Point{1, 2}
    m["foo"]
    s[i : j + 1]
    obj.color
    Math.sin
    f.p[i].x()

### Selectors

A primary expression of the form

    x.f

denotes the field or method `f` of the value denoted by `x` (or of `*x` if `x` is of pointer type). The identifier `f` is called the (field or method) selector. The type of the expression is the type of `f`.

A selector `f` may denote a field or method `f` of a type `T`, or it may refer to a field or method `f` of a nested anonymous field of `T`. The number of anonymous fields traversed to reach `f` is called its depth in `T`. The depth of a field or method `f` declared in `T` is zero. The depth of a field or method `f` declared in an anonymous field `A` in `T` is the depth of `f` in `A` plus one.

The following rules apply to selectors:

1. For a value `x` of type `T` or `*T` where `T` is not an interface type, `x.f` denotes the field or method at the shallowest depth in `T` where there is such an `f`. If there is not exactly one `f` with shallowest depth, the selector expression is illegal.
2. For a variable `x` of type `I` or `*I` where `I` is an interface type, `x.f` denotes the actual method with name `f` of the value assigned to `x` if there is such a method. If no value or `nil` was assigned to `x`, `x.f` is illegal.
3. In all other cases, `x.f` is illegal.

Selectors automatically dereference pointers as necessary. If `x` is of pointer type, `x.y` is shorthand for `(*x).y`; if `y` is also of pointer type, `x.y.z` is shorthand for `(*(*x).y).z`, and so on. If `*x` is of pointer type, dereferencing must be explicit; only one level of automatic dereferencing is provided. For an `x` of type `T` containing an anonymous field declared as `*A`, `x.f` is a shortcut for `(*x.A).f`.

For example, given the declarations:

    type T0 struct {
    	x int;
    }

    func (recv *T0) M0()

    type T1 struct {
    	y int;
    }

    func (recv T1) M1()

    type T2 struct {
    	z int;
    	T1;
    	*T0;
    }

    func (recv *T2) M2()

    var p *T2;  // with p != nil and p.T1 != nil

one may write:

    p.z         // (*p).z
    p.y         // ((*p).T1).y
    p.x         // (*(*p).T0).x

    p.M2        // (*p).M2
    p.M1        // ((*p).T1).M1
    p.M0        // ((*p).T0).M0

TODO: Specify what happens to receivers.

### Indexes

A primary expression of the form

    a[x]

denotes the array or map element of `a` indexed by `x`. The value `x` is called the array index or map key, respectively. The following rules apply:

For `a` of type `A` or `*A` where `A` is an array type (§Array types), or for `a` of type `S` where `S` is a slice type (§Slice types):

- `x` must be an integer value and `0 <= x < len(a)`
- `a[x]` is the array element at index `x` and the type of `a[x]` is the element type of `A`

For `a` of type `T` where `T` is a string type (§Strings):

- `x` must be an integer value and `0 <= x < len(a)`
- `a[x]` is the byte at index `x` and the type of `a[x]` is `byte`
- `a[x]` may not be assigned to

For `a` of type `M` where `M` is a map type (§Map types):

- `x`'s type must be compatible with the key type of `M` and the map must contain an entry with key `x` (but see special forms below)
- `a[x]` is the map value with key `x` and the type of `a[x]` is the value type of `M`

Otherwise `a[x]` is illegal. If the index or key is out of range evaluating an otherwise legal index expression, a run-time exception occurs.

However, if an index expression on a map `a` of type `map[K] V` is used in an assignment or initialization of the form

    r, ok = a[x]
    r, ok := a[x]
    var r, ok = a[x]

the result of the index expression is a pair of values with types `(K, bool)`. If the key is present in the map, the expression returns the pair `(a[x], true)`; otherwise it returns `(Z, false)` where `Z` is the zero value for `V` (§The zero value). No run-time exception occurs in this case. The index expression in this construct thus acts like a function call returning a value and a boolean indicating success. (§Assignments)

Similarly, if an assignment to a map has the special form

    a[x] = r, ok

and boolean `ok` has the value `false`, the entry for key `x` is deleted from the map; if `ok` is `true`, the construct acts like a regular assignment to an element of the map.

### Slices

Strings, arrays, and slices can be sliced to construct substrings or descriptors of subarrays. The index expressions in the slice select which elements appear in the result. The result has indexes starting at 0 and length equal to the difference in the index values in the slice. After slicing the array `a`

    a := [4]int{1, 2, 3, 4};
    s := a[1:3];

the slice `s` has type `[]int`, length 2, capacity 3, and elements

    s[0] == 2
    s[1] == 3

The slice length must be non-negative. For arrays or strings, the indexes `lo` and `hi` must satisfy 0 <= `lo` <= `hi` <= length; for slices, the upper bound is the capacity rather than the length.

If the sliced operand is a string, the result of the slice operation is another, new string (§Strings). If the sliced operand is an array or slice, the result of the slice operation is a slice (§Slice types).

### Type assertions

For an expression `x` and a type `T`, the primary expression

    x.(T)

asserts that `x` is not the zero interface value and that the value stored in `x` is of type `T`. The notation `x.(T)` is called a type assertion. The type of `x` must be an interface type.

More precisely, if `T` is not an interface type, `x.(T)` asserts that the dynamic type of `x` is identical to the type `T` (§Type identity and compatibility). If `T` is an interface type, `x.(T)` asserts that the dynamic type of `T` implements the interface `T` (§Interface types).

If the type assertion holds, the value of the expression is the value stored in `x` and its type is `T`. If the type assertion is false, a run-time exception occurs. In other words, even though the dynamic type of `x` is known only at run-time, the type of `x.(T)` is known to be `T` in a correct program.

If a type assertion is used in an assignment or initialization of the form

    v, ok = x.(T)
    v, ok := x.(T)
    var v, ok = x.(T)

the result of the assertion is a pair of values with types `(T, bool)`. If the assertion holds, the expression returns the pair `(x.(T), true)`; otherwise, the expression returns `(Z, false)` where `Z` is the zero value for type `T` (§The zero value). No run-time exception occurs in this case. The type assertion in this construct thus acts like a function call returning a value and a boolean indicating success. (§Assignments)

### Calls

Given an expression `f` of function type `F`,

    f(a1, a2, ... an)

calls `f` with arguments `a1, a2, ... an`. The arguments must be single-valued expressions assignment compatible with the parameters of `F` and are evaluated before the function is called. The type of the expression is the result type of `F`. A method invocation is similar but the method itself is specified as a selector upon a value of the receiver type for the method.

    Atan2(x, y)    // function call
    var pt *Point;
    pt.Scale(3.5)  // method call with receiver pt

A method call `x.m()` is valid if the method set of (the type of) `x` contains `m` (and the argument list is compatible with the parameter list of `m`). If `x` is addressable and `&x`'s method set contains `m`, `x.m()` is shorthand for `(&x).m()`:

    var p Point;
    p.Scale(3.5)

There is no distinct method type and there are no method literals.

### Passing arguments to `...` parameters

When a function `f` has a `...` parameter, it is always the last formal parameter. Within calls to `f`, the arguments before the `...` are treated normally. After those, an arbitrary number (including zero) of trailing arguments may appear in the call and are bound to the `...` parameter.

Within `f`, the `...` parameter has static type `interface{}` (the empty interface). For each call, its dynamic type is a structure whose sequential fields are the trailing arguments of the call. That is, the actual arguments provided for a `...` parameter are wrapped into a struct that is passed to the function instead of the actual arguments. Using the reflection library (TODO: reference), `f` may unpack the elements of the dynamic type to recover the actual arguments.

Given the function and call

    func Fprintf(f io.Writer, format string, args ...)
    Fprintf(os.Stdout, "%s %d", "hello", 23);

Within `Fprintf`, the dynamic type of `args` for this call will be, schematically, `struct { string; int }`.

As a special case, if a function passes its own `...` parameter as the argument for a `...` in a call to another function with a `...` parameter, the parameter is not wrapped again but passed directly. In short, a formal `...` parameter is passed unchanged as an actual `...` parameter.

### Operators

Operators combine operands into expressions.

    Expression = UnaryExpr | Expression binary_op UnaryExpr .
    UnaryExpr  = PrimaryExpr | unary_op UnaryExpr .

    binary_op  = log_op | com_op | rel_op | add_op | mul_op .
    log_op     = "||" | "&&" .
    com_op     = "<-" .
    rel_op     = "==" | "!=" | "<" | "<=" | ">" | ">=" .
    add_op     = "+" | "-" | "|" | "^" .
    mul_op     = "*" | "/" | "%" | "<<" | ">>" | "&" | "&^" .

    unary_op   = "+" | "-" | "!" | "^" | "*" | "&" | "<-" .

Comparisons are discussed elsewhere (§Comparison compatibility). For other binary operators, the operand types must be identical (§Properties of types and values) unless the operation involves channels, shifts, or ideal constants.

In a channel send, the first operand is always a channel and the second is a value of the channel's element type.

Except for shift operations, if one operand has ideal type and the other operand does not, the ideal operand is converted to match the type of the other operand (§Expressions). If both operands are ideal numbers and one is an ideal float, the other is converted to ideal float (relevant for `/` and `%`).

The right operand in a shift operation must have unsigned integer type or be an ideal number that can be converted to unsigned integer type (§Arithmetic operators).

If the left operand of a non-constant shift operation is an ideal number, the type of the ideal number is what it would be if the shift operation were replaced by the left operand alone.

    var s uint = 33;
    var i = 1<<s;          // 1 has type int
    var j = int32(1<<s);   // 1 has type int32; j == 0
    var u = uint64(1<<s);  // 1 has type uint64; u == 1<<33
    var f = float(1<<s);   // illegal: 1 has type float, cannot shift
    var g = float(1<<33);  // legal; 1<<33 is a constant shift operation; g == 1<<33

Unary operators have the highest precedence. As the `++` and `--` operators form statements, not expressions, they fall outside the operator hierarchy. As a consequence, statement `*p++` is the same as `(*p)++`.

There are six precedence levels for binary operators. Multiplication operators bind strongest, followed by addition operators, comparison operators, communication operators, `&&` (logical and), and finally `||` (logical or):

    Precedence    Operator
        6             *  /  %  <<  >>  &  &^
        5             +  -  |  ^
        4             ==  !=  <  <=  >  >=
        3             <-
        2             &&
        1             ||

Binary operators of the same precedence associate from left to right. For instance, `x / y / z` is the same as `(x / y) / z`.

Examples:

    +x
    23 + 3*x[i]
    x <= f()
    ^a >> b
    f() || g()
    x == y + 1 && <-chan_ptr > 0

### Arithmetic operators

Arithmetic operators apply to numeric types and yield a result of the same type as the first operand. The four standard arithmetic operators (`+`, `-`, `*`, `/`) apply both to integer and floating point types, while `+` applies also to strings; all other arithmetic operators apply to integers only.

    +    sum                    integers, floats, strings
    -    difference             integers, floats
    *    product                integers, floats
    /    quotient               integers, floats
    %    remainder              integers

    &    bitwise and            integers
    |    bitwise or             integers
    ^    bitwise xor            integers
    &^   bit clear (and not)    integers

    <<   left shift             integer << unsigned integer
    >>   right shift            integer >> unsigned integer

Strings can be concatenated using the `+` operator or the `+=` assignment operator:

    s := "hi" + string(c);
    s += " and good bye";

String addition creates a new string by concatenating the operands.

For integer values, `/` and `%` satisfy the following relationship:

    (a / b) * b + a % b == a

with `(a / b)` truncated towards zero. Examples:

     x     y     x / y     x % y
     5     3       1         2
    -5     3      -1        -2
     5    -3      -1         2
    -5    -3       1        -2

If the dividend is positive and the divisor is a constant power of 2, the division may be replaced by a left shift, and computing the remainder may be replaced by a bitwise "and" operation:

     x     x / 4     x % 4     x >> 2     x & 3
     11      2         3         2          3
    -11     -2        -3        -3          1

The shift operators shift the left operand by the shift count specified by the right operand. They implement arithmetic shifts if the left operand is a signed integer and logical shifts if it is an unsigned integer. The shift count must be an unsigned integer. There is no upper limit on the shift count. Shifts behave as if the left operand is shifted `n` times by 1 for a shift count of `n`. As a result, `x << 1` is the same as `x*2` and `x >> 1` is the same as `x/2` truncated towards negative infinity.

For integer operands, the unary operators `+`, `-`, and `^` are defined as follows:

    +x                          is 0 + x
    -x    negation              is 0 - x
    ^x    bitwise complement    is m ^ x  with m = "all bits set to 1" for unsigned x
                                          and  m = -1 for signed x

For floating point numbers, `+x` is the same as `x`, while `-x` is the negation of `x`.

### Integer overflow

For unsigned integer values, the operations `+`, `-`, `*`, and `<<` are computed modulo 2n, where n is the bit width of the unsigned integer's type (§Numeric types). Loosely speaking, these unsigned integer operations discard high bits upon overflow, and programs may rely on ``wrap around''.

For signed integers, the operations `+`, `-`, `*`, and `<<` may legally overflow and the resulting value exists and is deterministically defined by the signed integer representation, the operation, and its operands. No exception is raised as a result of overflow. A compiler may not optimize code under the assumption that overflow does not occur. For instance, it may not assume that `x < x + 1` is always true.

### Comparison operators

Comparison operators yield a boolean result. All comparison operators apply to basic types except bools. The operators `==` and `!=` apply, at least in some cases, to all types except arrays and structs.

    ==    equal
    !=    not equal
    <     less
    <=    less or equal
    >     greater
    >=    greater or equal

Numeric basic types are compared in the usual way.

Strings are compared byte-wise (lexically).

Booleans are equal if they are either both "true" or both "false".

The rules for comparison of composite types are described in the section on §Comparison compatibility.

### Logical operators

Logical operators apply to boolean operands and yield a boolean result. The right operand is evaluated conditionally.

    &&    conditional and    p && q  is  "if p then q else false"
    ||    conditional or     p || q  is  "if p then true else q"
    !     not                !p      is  "not p"

### Address operators

The unary prefix address-of operator `&` generates the address of its operand, which must be a variable, pointer indirection, field selector, or array or slice indexing operation. It is illegal to take the address of a function result variable. Given an operand of pointer type, the unary prefix pointer indirection operator `*` retrieves the value pointed to by the operand.

    &x
    &a[f(2)]
    *p
    *pf(x)

TODO: This text needs to be cleaned up and go elsewhere, there are no address operators involved.

Methods are a form of function and a method ``value'' has a function type. Consider the type T with method M:

    type T struct {
    	a int;
    }
    func (tp *T) M(a int) int;
    var t *T;

To construct the value of method M, one writes

    t.M

using the variable t (not the type T). TODO: It makes perfect sense to be able to say T.M (in fact, it makes more sense then t.M, since only the type T is needed to find the method M, i.e., its address). TBD.

The expression t.M is a function value with type

    func (t *T, a int) int

and may be invoked only as a function, not as a method:

    var f func (t *T, a int) int;
    f = t.M;
    x := f(t, 7);

Note that one does not write t.f(7); taking the value of a method demotes it to a function.

In general, given type T with method M and variable t of type T, the method invocation

    t.M(args)

is equivalent to the function call

    (t.M)(t, args)

TODO: should probably describe the effect of (t.m) under §Expressions if t.m denotes a method: Effect is as described above, converts into function.

If T is an interface type, the expression t.M does not determine which underlying type's M is called until the point of the call itself. Thus given T1 and T2, both implementing interface I with method M, the sequence

    var t1 *T1;
    var t2 *T2;
    var i I = t1;
    m := i.M;
    m(t2, 7);

will invoke t2.M() even though m was constructed with an expression involving t1. Effectively, the value of m is a function literal

    func (recv I, a int) {
    	recv.M(a);
    }

that is automatically created.

TODO: Document implementation restriction: It is illegal to take the address of a result parameter (e.g.: func f() (x int, p *int) { return 2, &x }). (TBD: is it an implementation restriction or fact?)

### Communication operators

The term channel means "variable of channel type" (§Channel types).

The send operation uses the binary operator "<-", which operates on a channel and a value (expression):

    ch <- 3

The send operation sends the value on the channel. Both the channel and the expression are evaluated before communication begins. Communication blocks until the send can proceed, at which point the value is transmitted on the channel. A send can proceed if the channel is asynchronous and there is room in its buffer or the channel is synchronous and a receiver is ready.

If the send operation appears in an expression context, the value of the expression is a boolean and the operation is non-blocking. The value of the boolean reports true if the communication succeeded, false if it did not. (The channel and the expression to be sent are evaluated regardless.) These two examples are equivalent:

    ok := ch <- 3;
    if ok { print("sent") } else { print("not sent") }

    if ch <- 3 { print("sent") } else { print("not sent") }

In other words, if the program tests the value of a send operation, the send is non-blocking and the value of the expression is the success of the operation. If the program does not test the value, the operation blocks until it succeeds.

The receive operation uses the prefix unary operator "<-". The value of the expression is the value received, whose type is the element type of the channel.

    <-ch

The expression blocks until a value is available, which then can be assigned to a variable or used like any other expression. If the receive expression does not save the value, the value is discarded.

    v1 := <-ch
    v2 = <-ch
    f(<-ch)
    <-strobe  // wait until clock pulse

If a receive expression is used in an assignment or initialization of the form

    x, ok = <-ch
    x, ok := <-ch
    var x, ok = <-ch

the receive operation becomes non-blocking. If the operation can proceeed, the boolean variable `ok` will be set to `true` and the value stored in `x`; otherwise `ok` is set to `false` and `x` is set to the zero value for its type (§The zero value).

TODO: Probably in a separate section, communication semantices need to be presented regarding send, receive, select, and goroutines.

### Constant expressions

Constant expressions may contain only constants, `iota`, numeric literals, string literals, and some constant-valued built-in functions such as `unsafe.Sizeof` and `len` applied to an array. In practice, constant expressions are those that can be evaluated at compile time.

The type of a constant expression is determined by the type of its elements. If it contains only numeric literals, its type is ideal integer or ideal float (§Ideal number). Whether a literal is an integer or float depends on the syntax of the literals (123 vs. 123.0). The nature of the arithmetic operations within the expression depends, elementwise, on the values; for example, 3/2 is an integer division yielding 1, while 3./2. is a floating point division yielding 1.5. Thus

    const x = 3./2. + 3/2;

yields a floating point constant of ideal float value 2.5 (1.5 + 1); its constituent expressions are evaluated using distinct rules for division.

Intermediate values and the constants themselves may require precision significantly larger than any concrete type in the language. The following are legal declarations:

    const Huge = 1 << 100;
    const Four int8 = Huge >> 98;

A constant expression may appear in any context, such as assignment to a variable of any numeric type, as long as the value of the expression can be represented accurately in that context. It is erroneous to assign a value with a non-zero fractional part to an integer, or if the assignment would overflow or underflow, or in general if the value cannot be represented by the type of the variable. For instance, `3` can be assigned to any integer variable but also to any floating point variable, while `-1e12` can be assigned to a `float32`, `float64`, or even `int64` but not `uint64` or `string`.

If a typed constant expression evaluates to a value that is not representable by that type, the compiler reports an error.

    uint8(-1)         // error, out of range
    uint8(100) * 100  // error, out of range

The mask used by the unary bitwise complement operator matches the rule for non-constants: the mask is the all 1s for unsigned constants and -1 for signed and ideal constants.

    ^1          // ideal constant, equal to -2
    uint8(^1)   // error, same as uint8(-2), out of range
    ^uint8(1)   // typed uint8 constant, same as 0xFF ^ uint8(1) = uint8(0xFE)
    int8(^1)    // same as int8(-2)
    ^int8(1)    // same as -1 ^ int8(1) = -2

TODO: perhaps ^ should be disallowed on non-uints instead of assuming twos complement. Also it may be possible to make typed constants more like variables, at the cost of fewer overflow etc. errors being caught.

### Order of evaluation

When evaluating the elements of an assignment or expression, all function calls, method calls and communication operations are evaluated in lexical left-to-right order. Otherwise, the order of evaluation is unspecified.

For example, in the assignment

    y[f()], ok = g(h(), i() + x[j()], <-c), k()

the function calls and communication happen in the order `f()`, `h()`, `i()`, `j()`, `<-c`, `g()`, and `k()`. However, the order of those events compared to the evaluation and indexing of `x` and the evaluation of `y` is not specified.

## Statements

Statements control execution.

    Statement =
    	Declaration | EmptyStmt | LabeledStmt |
    	SimpleStmt | GoStmt | ReturnStmt | BreakStmt | ContinueStmt | GotoStmt |
    	FallthroughStmt | Block | IfStmt | SwitchStmt | SelectStmt | ForStmt |
    	DeferStmt .

    SimpleStmt = ExpressionStmt | IncDecStmt | Assignment | ShortVarDecl .

    StatementList = Statement { Separator Statement } .
    Separator     = [ ";" ] .

Elements of a list of statements are separated by semicolons, which may be omitted only if the previous statement:

- ends with the closing parenthesis ")" of a list of declarations (§Declarations and scope); or
- ends with a closing brace "}" that is not part of an expression.

### Empty statements

The empty statement does nothing.

    EmptyStmt = .

A statement list can always in effect be terminated with a semicolon by adding an empty statement.

### Labeled statements

A labeled statement may be the target of a `goto`, `break` or `continue` statement.

    LabeledStmt = Label ":" Statement .
    Label       = identifier .

    Error: log.Fatal("error encountered")

### Expression statements

Function calls, method calls, and channel operations can appear in statement context.

    ExpressionStmt = Expression .

    f(x+y)
    <-ch

### IncDec statements

The "++" and "--" statements increment or decrement their operands by the ideal numeric value 1. As with an assignment, the operand must be a variable, pointer indirection, field selector or index expression.

    IncDecStmt = Expression ( "++" | "--" ) .

The following assignment statements (§Assignments) are semantically equivalent:

    IncDec statement    Assignment
    x++                 x += 1
    x--                 x -= 1

### Assignments

    Assignment = ExpressionList assign_op ExpressionList .

    assign_op = [ add_op | mul_op ] "=" .

Each left-hand side operand must be a variable, pointer indirection, field selector, or index expression.

    x = 1
    *p = f()
    a[i] = 23
    k = <-ch
    i &^= 1<<n

An assignment operation `x` op`=` `y` where op is a binary arithmetic operation is equivalent to `x` `=` `x` op `y` but evalutates `x` only once. The op`=` construct is a single token.

    a[i] <<= 2

A tuple assignment assigns the individual elements of a multi-valued operation to a list of variables. There are two forms. In the first, the right hand operand is a single multi-valued expression such as a function evaluation or channel or map operation (§Channel operations, §Map operations) or a type assertion (§Type assertions). The number of operands on the left hand side must match the number of values. For instance, If `f` is a function returning two values,

    x, y = f()

assigns the first value to `x` and the second to `y`.

In the second form, the number of operands on the left must equal the number of expressions on the right, each of which must be single-valued, and the nth expression on the right is assigned to the nth operand on the left. The expressions on the right are evaluated before assigning to any of the operands on the left, but otherwise the evaluation order is unspecified.

    a, b = b, a  // exchange a and b

In assignments, the type of each value must be assignment compatible with the type of the operand to which it is assigned.

### If statements

"If" statements specify the conditional execution of two branches according to the value of a boolean expression. If the expression evaluates to true, the "if" branch is executed, otherwise, if present, the "else" branch is executed. A missing condition is equivalent to `true`.

    IfStmt    = "if" [ [ SimpleStmt ] ";" ] [ Expression ] Block [ "else" Statement ] .

    if x > 0 {
    	return true;
    }

The expression may be preceded by a simple statement, which executes before the expression is evaluated.

    if x := f(); x < y {
    	return x;
    } else if x > z {
    	return z;
    } else {
    	return y;
    }

### Switch statements

"Switch" statements provide multi-way execution. An expression or type specifier is compared to the "cases" inside the "switch" to determine which branch to execute.

    SwitchStmt = ExprSwitchStmt | TypeSwitchStmt .

There are two forms: expression switches and type switches. In an expression switch, the cases contain expressions that are compared against the value of the switch expression. In a type switch, the cases contain types that are compared against the type of a specially annotated switch expression.

#### Expression switches

In an expression switch, the switch expression is evaluated and the case expressions, which need not be constants, are evaluated left-to-right and top-to-bottom; the first one that equals the switch expression triggers execution of the statements of the associated case; the other cases are skipped. If no case matches and there is a "default" case, its statements are executed. There can be at most one default case and it may appear anywhere in the "switch" statement. A missing expression is equivalent to the expression `true`.

    ExprSwitchStmt = "switch" [ [ SimpleStmt ] ";" ] [ Expression ] "{" { ExprCaseClause } "}" .
    ExprCaseClause = ExprSwitchCase ":" [ StatementList ] .
    ExprSwitchCase = "case" ExpressionList | "default" .

In a case or default clause, the last statement only may be a "fallthrough" statement (§Fallthrough statement) to indicate that control should flow from the end of this clause to the first statement of the next clause. Otherwise control flows to the end of the "switch" statement.

The expression may be preceded by a simple statement, which executes before the expression is evaluated.

    switch tag {
    default: s3()
    case 0, 1, 2, 3: s1()
    case 4, 5, 6, 7: s2()
    }

    switch x := f(); {
    case x < 0: return -x
    default: return x
    }

    switch {  // missing expression means "true"
    case x < y: f1();
    case x < z: f2();
    case x == 4: f3();
    }

#### Type switches

A type switch compares types rather than values. It is otherwise similar to an expression switch. It is marked by a special switch expression that has the form of a type assertion using the reserved word `type` rather than an actual type. Cases then match literal types against the dynamic type of the expression in the type assertion.

    TypeSwitchStmt  = "switch" [ [ SimpleStmt ] ";" ] TypeSwitchGuard "{" { TypeCaseClause } "}" .
    TypeSwitchGuard = [ identifier ":=" ] Expression "." "(" "type" ")" .
    TypeCaseClause  = TypeSwitchCase ":" [ StatementList ] .
    TypeSwitchCase  = "case" Type | "default" .

The TypeSwitchGuard may include a short variable declaration. When that form is used, the variable is declared in each clause. In clauses with a case listing exactly one type, the variable has that type; otherwise, the variable has the type of the expression in the TypeSwitchGuard.

The type in a case may be `nil` (§Predeclared identifiers); that case is used when the expression in the TypeSwitchGuard is a `nil` interface value.

Given a function `f` that returns a value of type `interface{}`, the following type switch:

    switch i := f().(type) {
    case nil:
    	printString("f() returns nil");
    case int:
    	printInt(i);  // i is an int
    case float:
    	printFloat(i);  // i is a float
    case func(int) float:
    	printFunction(i);  // i is a function
    case bool, string:
    	printString("type is bool or string");  // i is an interface{}
    default:
    	printString("don't know the type");
    }

could be rewritten:

    v := f();
    if v == nil {
    	printString("f() returns nil");
    } else if i, is_int := v.(int); is_int {
    	printInt(i);  // i is an int
    } else if i, is_float := v.(float); is_float {
    	printFloat(i);  // i is a float
    } else if i, is_func := v.(func(int) float); is_func {
    	printFunction(i);  // i is a function
    } else {
    	i1, is_bool := v.(bool);
    	i2, is_string := v.(string);
    	if is_bool || is_string {
    		i := v;
    		printString("type is bool or string");  // i is an interface{}
    	} else {
    		i := v;
    		printString("don't know the type");  // i is an interface{}
    	}
    }

The type switch guard may be preceded by a simple statement, which executes before the guard is evaluated.

The "fallthrough" statement is not permitted in a type switch.

### For statements

A "for" statement specifies repeated execution of a block. The iteration is controlled by a condition, a "for" clause, or a "range" clause.

    ForStmt = "for" [ Condition | ForClause | RangeClause ] Block .
    Condition = Expression .

In its simplest form, a "for" statement specifies the repeated execution of a block as long as a boolean condition evaluates to true. The condition is evaluated before each iteration. If the condition is absent, it is equivalent to `true`.

    for a < b {
    	a *= 2
    }

A "for" statement with a "for" clause is also controlled by its condition, but additionally it may specify an init and a post statement, such as an assignment, an increment or decrement statement. The init statement may be a short variable declaration, but the post statement must not.

    ForClause = [ InitStmt ] ";" [ Condition ] ";" [ PostStmt ] .
    InitStmt = SimpleStmt .
    PostStmt = SimpleStmt .

    for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
    	f(i)
    }

If non-empty, the init statement is executed once before evaluating the condition for the first iteration; the post statement is executed after each execution of the block (and only if the block was executed). Any element of the "for" clause may be empty but the semicolons are required unless there is only a condition. If the condition is absent, it is equivalent to `true`.

    for ; cond ; { S() }    is the same as    for cond { S() }
    for true { S() }        is the same as    for      { S() }

A "for" statement with a "range" clause iterates through all entries of an array, slice, string or map, or values received on a channel. For each entry it first assigns the current index or key to an iteration variable - or the current (index, element) or (key, value) pair to a pair of iteration variables - and then executes the block.

    RangeClause = ExpressionList ( "=" | ":=" ) "range" Expression .

The type of the right-hand expression in the "range" clause must be an array, slice, string or map, or a pointer to an array, slice, string or map; or it may be a channel. Except for channels, the identifier list must contain one or two expressions (as in assignments, these must be a variable, pointer indirection, field selector, or index expression) denoting the iteration variables. On each iteration, the first variable is set to the string, array or slice index or map key, and the second variable, if present, is set to the corresponding string or array element or map value. The types of the array or slice index (always `int`) and element, or of the map key and value respectively, must be assignment compatible to the iteration variables.

For strings, the "range" clause iterates over the Unicode code points in the string. On successive iterations, the index variable will be the index of successive UTF-8-encoded code points in the string, and the second variable, of type `int`, will be the value of the corresponding code point. If the iteration encounters an invalid UTF-8 sequence, the second variable will be `0xFFFD`, the Unicode replacement character, and the next iteration will advance a single byte in the string.

For channels, the identifier list must contain one identifier. The iteration receives values sent on the channel until the channel is closed; it does not process the zero value sent before the channel is closed.

The iteration variables may be declared by the "range" clause (":="), in which case their scope ends at the end of the "for" statement (§Declarations and scope rules). In this case their types are set to `int` and the array element type, or the map key and value types, respectively. If the iteration variables are declared outside the "for" statement, after execution their values will be those of the last iteration.

    var a [10]string;
    m := map[string]int{"mon":0, "tue":1, "wed":2, "thu":3, "fri":4, "sat":5, "sun":6};

    for i, s := range a {
    	// type of i is int
    	// type of s is string
    	// s == a[i]
    	g(i, s)
    }

    var key string;
    var val interface {};  // value type of m is assignment-compatible to val
    for key, value = range m {
    	h(key, value)
    }
    // key == last map key encountered in iteration
    // val == map[key]

If map entries that have not yet been processed are deleted during iteration, they will not be processed. If map entries are inserted during iteration, the behavior is implementation-dependent, but each entry will be processed at most once.

### Go statements

A "go" statement starts the execution of a function or method call as an independent concurrent thread of control, or goroutine, within the same address space.

    GoStmt = "go" Expression .

The expression must be a call, and unlike with a regular call, program execution does not wait for the invoked function to complete.

    go Server()
    go func(ch chan <- bool) { for { sleep(10); ch <- true; }} (c)

### Select statements

A "select" statement chooses which of a set of possible communications will proceed. It looks similar to a "switch" statement but with the cases all referring to communication operations.

    SelectStmt = "select" "{" { CommClause } "}" .
    CommClause = CommCase ":" StatementList .
    CommCase = "case" ( SendExpr | RecvExpr) | "default" .
    SendExpr =  Expression "<-" Expression .
    RecvExpr =  [ Expression ( "=" | ":=" ) ] "<-" Expression .

For all the send and receive expressions in the "select" statement, the channel expression is evaluated. Any expressions that appear on the right hand side of send expressions are also evaluated. If any of the resulting channels can proceed, one is chosen and the corresponding communication and statements are evaluated. Otherwise, if there is a default case, that executes; if not, the statement blocks until one of the communications can complete. The channels and send expressions are not re-evaluated. A channel pointer may be `nil`, which is equivalent to that case not being present in the select statement except, if a send, its expression is still evaluated.

Since all the channels and send expressions are evaluated, any side effects in that evaluation will occur for all the communications in the "select" statement.

If multiple cases can proceed, a uniform fair choice is made to decide which single communication will execute.

The receive case may declare a new variable using a short variable declaration.

    var c, c1, c2 chan int;
    var i1, i2 int;
    select {
    case i1 = <-c1:
    	print("received ", i1, " from c1\n");
    case c2 <- i2:
    	print("sent ", i2, " to c2\n");
    default:
    	print("no communication\n");
    }

    for {  // send random sequence of bits to c
    	select {
    	case c <- 0:  // note: no statement, no fallthrough, no folding of cases
    	case c <- 1:
    	}
    }

TODO: Make semantics more precise.

### Return statements

A "return" statement terminates execution of the containing function and optionally provides a result value or values to the caller.

    ReturnStmt = "return" [ ExpressionList ] .

In a function without a result type, a "return" statement must not specify any result values.

    func no_result() {
    	return
    }

There are three ways to return values from a function with a result type:

1. The return value or values may be explicitly listed in the "return" statement. Each expression must be single-valued and assignment compatible to the corresponding element of the result type of the function.

       func simple_f() int {
       	return 2
       }

       func complex_f1() (re float, im float) {
       	return -7.0, -4.0
       }

2. The expression list in the "return" statement may be a single call to a multi-valued function. The effect is as if each value returned from that function were assigned to a temporary variable with the type of the respective value, followed by a "return" statement listing these variables, at which point the rules of the previous case apply.

       func complex_f2() (re float, im float) {
       	return complex_f1()
       }

3. The expression list may be empty if the functions's result type specifies names for its result parameters (§Function Types). The result parameters act as ordinary local variables that are initialized to the zero values for their type (§The zero value) and the function may assign values to them as necessary. The "return" statement returns the values of these variables.

       func complex_f3() (re float, im float) {
       	re = 7.0;
       	im = 4.0;
       	return;
       }

TODO: Define when return is required.
TODO: Language about result parameters needs to go into a section on function/method invocation

### Break statements

A "break" statement terminates execution of the innermost "for", "switch" or "select" statement.

    BreakStmt = "break" [ Label ].

If there is a label, it must be that of an enclosing "for", "switch" or "select" statement, and that is the one whose execution terminates (§For statements, §Switch statements, §Select statements).

    L: for i < n {
    	switch i {
    		case 5: break L
    	}
    }

### Continue statements

A "continue" statement begins the next iteration of the innermost "for" loop at the post statement (§For statements).

    ContinueStmt = "continue" [ Label ].

The optional label is analogous to that of a "break" statement.

### Goto statements

A "goto" statement transfers control to the statement with the corresponding label.

    GotoStmt = "goto" Label .

    goto Error

Executing the "goto" statement must not cause any variables to come into scope that were not already in scope at the point of the goto. For instance, this example:

    goto L;  // BAD
    v := 3;
    L:

is erroneous because the jump to label `L` skips the creation of `v`. (TODO: Eliminate in favor of used and not set errors?)

### Fallthrough statements

A "fallthrough" statement transfers control to the first statement of the next case clause in a expression "switch" statement (§Expression switches). It may be used only as the final non-empty statement in a case or default clause in an expression "switch" statement.

    FallthroughStmt = "fallthrough" .

### Defer statements

A "defer" statement invokes a function whose execution is deferred to the moment the surrounding function returns.

    DeferStmt = "defer" Expression .

The expression must be a function or method call. Each time the "defer" statement executes, the parameters to the function call are evaluated and saved anew but the function is not invoked. Immediately before the innermost function surrounding the "defer" statement returns, but after its return value (if any) is evaluated, each deferred function is executed with its saved parameters. Deferred functions are executed in LIFO order.

    lock(l);
    defer unlock(l);  // unlocking happens before surrounding function returns

    // prints 3 2 1 0 before surrounding function returns
    for i := 0; i <= 3; i++ {
    	defer fmt.Print(i);
    }

## Predeclared functions

- cap
- close
- closed
- len
- make
- new
- panic
- panicln
- print
- println

### Length and capacity

    Call      Argument type        Result

    len(s)    string               string length (in bytes)
              [n]T, *[n]T          array length (== n)
              []T                  slice length
              map[K]T              map length
              chan T               number of elements in channel buffer

    cap(s)    [n]T, *[n]T          array length (== n)
              []T                  slice capacity
              chan T               channel buffer capacity

The type of the result is always `int` and the implementation guarantees that the result always fits into an `int`.

The capacity of a slice or map is the number of elements for which there is space allocated in the underlying array (for a slice) or map. For a slice `s`, at any time the following relationship holds:

    0 <= len(s) <= cap(s)

### Conversions

Conversions look like function calls of the form

    T(value)

where `T` is a type and `value` is an expression that can be converted to a value of result type `T`.

The following conversion rules apply:

- 1) The conversion succeeds if the value is assignment-compatible to a variable of type T.
- 2) The conversion succeeds if the value would be assignment-compatible to a variable of type T if the value type or T or any of their component types are unnamed (§Type identity and compatibility).
- 3) Between integer types. If the value is a signed quantity, it is sign extended to implicit infinite precision; otherwise it is zero extended. It is then truncated to fit in the result type size. For example, `uint32(int8(0xFF))` is `0xFFFFFFFF`. The conversion always yields a valid value; there is no signal for overflow.
- 4) Between integer and floating point types, or between floating point types. To avoid overdefining the properties of the conversion, for now it is defined as a ``best effort'' conversion. The conversion always succeeds but the value may be a NaN or other problematic result. TODO: clarify?
- 5) Strings permit three special conversions:
- 5a) Converting an integer value yields a string containing the UTF-8 representation of the integer.

      string(0x65e5)  // "\u65e5"

- 5b) Converting a slice of integers yields a string that is the concatenation of the individual integers converted to strings. If the slice value is `nil`, the result is the empty string.

      string([]int{0x65e5, 0x672c, 0x8a9e})  // "\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e"

- 5c) Converting a slice of bytes yields a string whose successive bytes are those of the slice. If the slice value is `nil`, the result is the empty string.

      string([]byte{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o'})  // "hello"

There is no linguistic mechanism to convert between pointers and integers. The `unsafe` package implements this functionality under restricted circumstances (§Package `unsafe`).

### Allocation

The built-in function `new` takes a type `T` and returns a value of type `*T`. The memory is initialized as described in the section on initial values (§The zero value).

    new(T)

For instance

    type S struct { a int; b float }
    new(S)

dynamically allocates memory for a variable of type `S`, initializes it (`a=0`, `b=0.0`), and returns a value of type `*S` containing the address of the memory.

### Making slices, maps and channels

Slices, maps and channels are reference types that do not require the extra indirection of an allocation with `new`. The built-in function `make` takes a type `T`, which must be a slice, map or channel type, optionally followed by a type-specific list of expressions. It returns a value of type `T` (not `*T`). The memory is initialized as described in the section on initial values (§The zero value).

    make(T [, optional list of expressions])

For instance

    make(map[string] int)

creates a new map value and initializes it to an empty map.

The parameters affect sizes for allocating slices, maps, and buffered channels:

    s := make([]int, 10, 100);        # slice with len(s) == 10, cap(s) == 100
    s := make([]int, 10);             # slice with len(s) == cap(s) == 10
    c := make(chan int, 10);          # channel with a buffer size of 10
    m := make(map[string] int, 100);  # map with initial space for 100 elements

## Packages

Go programs are constructed by linking together packages. A package is in turn constructed from one or more source files that together provide access to a set of types, constants, functions, and variables. Those elements may be imported and used in another package.

### Source file organization

Each source file consists of a package clause defining the package to which it belongs, followed by a possibly empty set of import declarations that declare packages whose contents it wishes to use, followed by a possibly empty set of declarations of functions, types, variables, and constants.

    SourceFile       = PackageClause { ImportDecl [ ";" ] } { TopLevelDecl [ ";" ] } .

### Package clause

A package clause begins each source file and defines the package to which the file belongs.

    PackageClause    = "package" PackageName .

    package math

A set of files sharing the same PackageName form the implementation of a package. An implementation may require that all source files for a package inhabit the same directory.

### Import declarations

A source file gains access to exported identifiers from another package through an import declaration. In the general form, an import declaration provides an identifier that code in the source file may use to access the imported package's contents and a file name referring to the (compiled) implementation of the package. The file name may be relative to a repository of installed packages.

    ImportDecl       = "import" ( ImportSpec | "(" [ ImportSpecList ] ")" ) .
    ImportSpecList   = ImportSpec { ";" ImportSpec } [ ";" ] .
    ImportSpec       = [ "." | PackageName ] PackageFileName .
    PackageFileName  = StringLit .

After an import, in the usual case an exported name N from the imported package P may be accessed by the qualified identifier P`.`N (§Qualified identifiers). The actual name P depends on the form of the import declaration. If an explicit package name `p1` is provided, the qualified identifer will have the form `p1.`N. If no name is provided in the import declaration, P will be the package name declared within the source files of the imported package. Finally, if the import declaration uses an explicit period (`.`) for the package name, N will be declared in the current file's file block and can be accessed without a qualifier.

In this table, assume we have compiled a package named `math`, which exports function `Sin`, and installed the compiled package in file `"lib/math"`.

    Import syntax               Local name of Sin

    import M "lib/math"         M.Sin
    import   "lib/math"         math.Sin
    import . "lib/math"         Sin

### Multiple-file packages

If a package is constructed from multiple source files, all names declared in the package block, not just uppercase ones, are in scope in all the files in the package.

If source file `math1.go` contains

    package math

    const twoPi = 6.283185307179586

    function Sin(x float) float { return ... }

then a second file `math2.go` also in `package math` may refer directly to `Sin` and `twoPi`.

### An example package

Here is a complete Go package that implements a concurrent prime sieve.

    package main

    import "fmt"

    // Send the sequence 2, 3, 4, ... to channel 'ch'.
    func generate(ch chan <- int) {
    	for i := 2; ; i++ {
    		ch <- i  // Send 'i' to channel 'ch'.
    	}
    }

    // Copy the values from channel 'in' to channel 'out',
    // removing those divisible by 'prime'.
    func filter(src chan <- int, dst <-chan int, prime int) {
    	for i := range src {  // Loop over values received from 'src'.
    		if i % prime != 0 {
    			dst <- i  // Send 'i' to channel 'dst'.
    		}
    	}
    }

    // The prime sieve: Daisy-chain filter processes together.
    func sieve() {
    	ch := make(chan int);  // Create a new channel.
    	go generate(ch);  // Start generate() as a subprocess.
    	for {
    		prime := <-ch;
    		fmt.Print(prime, "\n");
    		ch1 := make(chan int);
    		go filter(ch, ch1, prime);
    		ch = ch1
    	}
    }

    func main() {
    	sieve()
    }

## Program initialization and execution

### The zero value

When memory is allocated to store a value, either through a declaration or `new()`, and no explicit initialization is provided, the memory is given a default initialization. Each element of such a value is set to the zero value for its type: `false` for booleans, `0` for integers, `0.0` for floats, `""` for strings, and `nil` for pointers and interfaces. This initialization is done recursively, so for instance each element of an array of structs will have its fields zeroed if no value is specified.

These two simple declarations are equivalent:

    var i int;
    var i int = 0;

After

    type T struct { i int; f float; next *T };
    t := new(T);

the following holds:

    t.i == 0
    t.f == 0.0
    t.next == nil

The same would also be true after

    var t T

### Program execution

A package with no imports is initialized by assigning initial values to all its package-level variables in declaration order and then calling any package-level function with the name and signature of

    func init()

defined in its source. Since a package may contain more than one source file, there may be more than one `init()` function in a package, but only one per source file.

Initialization code may contain "go" statements, but the functions they invoke do not begin execution until initialization of the entire program is complete. Therefore, all initialization code is run in a single goroutine.

An `init()` function cannot be referred to from anywhere in a program. In particular, `init()` cannot be called explicitly, nor can a pointer to `init` be assigned to a function variable.

If a package has imports, the imported packages are initialized before initializing the package itself. If multiple packages import a package `P`, `P` will be initialized only once.

The importing of packages, by construction, guarantees that there can be no cyclic dependencies in initialization.

A complete program, possibly created by linking multiple packages, must have one package called `main`, with a function

    func main() { ... }

defined. The function `main.main()` takes no arguments and returns no value.

Program execution begins by initializing the `main` package and then invoking `main.main()`.

When `main.main()` returns, the program exits.

Implementation restriction: The compiler assumes package `main` is not imported by any other package.

## System considerations

### Package `unsafe`

The built-in package `unsafe`, known to the compiler, provides facilities for low-level programming including operations that violate the type system. A package using `unsafe` must be vetted manually for type safety. The package provides the following interface:

    package unsafe

    type ArbitraryType int  // shorthand for an arbitrary Go type; it is not a real type
    type Pointer *ArbitraryType

    func Alignof(variable ArbitraryType) int
    func Offsetof(selector ArbitraryType) int
    func Reflect(i interface {}) (value uint64, typestring string, indir bool)
    func Sizeof(variable ArbitraryType) int
    func Unreflect(value uint64, typestring string, indir bool) interface {}

Any pointer or value of type `uintptr` can be converted into a `Pointer` and vice versa.

The function `Sizeof` takes an expression denoting a variable of any type and returns the size of the variable in bytes.

The function `Offsetof` takes a selector (§Selectors) denoting a struct field of any type and returns the field offset in bytes relative to the struct's address. For a struct `s` with field `f`:

    uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&s)) + uintptr(unsafe.Offsetof(s.f)) == uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&s.f))

Computer architectures may require memory addresses to be aligned; that is, for addresses of a variable to be a multiple of a factor, the variable's type's alignment. The function `Alignof` takes an expression denoting a variable of any type and returns the alignment of the (type of the) variable in bytes. For a variable `x`:

    uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&x)) % uintptr(unsafe.Alignof(x)) == 0

Calls to `Alignof`, `Offsetof`, and `Sizeof` are constant expressions of type `int`.

TODO describe Reflect, Unreflect

### Size and alignment guarantees

For the numeric types (§Numeric types), the following sizes are guaranteed:

    type                      size in bytes

    byte, uint8, int8         1
    uint16, int16             2
    uint32, int32, float32    4
    uint64, int64, float64    8

The following minimal alignment properties are guaranteed:

1. For a variable `x` of any type: `1 <= unsafe.Alignof(x) <= unsafe.Maxalign`.
2. For a variable `x` of numeric type: `unsafe.Alignof(x)` is the smaller of `unsafe.Sizeof(x)` and `unsafe.Maxalign`, but at least 1.
3. For a variable `x` of struct type: `unsafe.Alignof(x)` is the largest of all the values `unsafe.Alignof(x.f)` for each field `f` of x, but at least 1.
4. For a variable `x` of array type: `unsafe.Alignof(x)` is the same as `unsafe.Alignof(x[0])`, but at least 1.

## Implementation differences - TODO

- Implementation does not honor the restriction on goto statements and targets (no intervening declarations).
- A type switch must have an assignment in the guard expression and does not support multiple types per case.