Commit 4710642d authored by Rob Pike's avatar Rob Pike

Effective Go: update maps description regarding lookup of nonexistent entry.

R=rsc, gri, iant
CC=golang-dev
https://golang.org/cl/821044
parent 6a71a463
......@@ -1121,9 +1121,23 @@ var timeZone = map[string] int {
<p>
Assigning and fetching map values looks syntactically just like
doing the same for arrays except that the index doesn't need to
be an integer. An attempt to fetch a map value with a key that
is not present in the map will cause the program to crash, but
there is a way to do so safely using a multiple assignment.
be an integer.
</p>
<pre>
offset := timeZone["EST"]
</pre>
<p>
An attempt to fetch a map value with a key that
is not present in the map will return the zero value for the type
of the entries
in the map. For instance, if the map contains integers, looking
up a non-existent key will return <code>0</code>.
</p>
<p>
Sometimes you need to distinguish a missing entry from
a zero value. Is there an entry for <code>"UTC"</code>
or is that zero value because it's not in the map at all?
You can discriminate with a form of multiple assignment.
</p>
<pre>
var seconds int
......@@ -1136,7 +1150,7 @@ In this example, if <code>tz</code> is present, <code>seconds</code>
will be set appropriately and <code>ok</code> will be true; if not,
<code>seconds</code> will be set to zero and <code>ok</code> will
be false.
Here's a function that puts it together:
Here's a function that puts it together with a nice error report:
</p>
<pre>
func offset(tz string) int {
......@@ -1151,7 +1165,7 @@ func offset(tz string) int {
To test for presence in the map without worrying about the actual value,
you can use the <em>blank identifier</em>, a simple underscore (<code>_</code>).
The blank identifier can be assigned or declared with any value of any type, with the
value discarded harmlessly. For testing presence in a map, use the blank
value discarded harmlessly. For testing just presence in a map, use the blank
identifier in place of the usual variable for the value.
</p>
<pre>
......@@ -1166,6 +1180,7 @@ from the map.
<pre>
timeZone["PDT"] = 0, false // Now on Standard Time
</pre>
<h3 id="printing">Printing</h3>
<p>
......
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