<p>Here's an example of what I mean:</p>
<pre><code>type person struct {
name string
age int
}
func example() *person {
return &person{"Frank", 15}
}
func main() {
frank := example()
fmt.Println(frank.name)
}
</code></pre>
<p>So what I mean is why would the function have *person (literal), when you are returning &person (address).</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>Furthermore, when changed to this code:</p>
<pre><code>func example() *person {
p := &person{"Frank", 15}
fmt.Printf("%x\n", p)
fmt.Printf("%v\n", *p)
return p
}
</code></pre>
<p>The output is:</p>
<pre><code>&{4672616e6b f}
{Frank 15}
Frank
</code></pre>
<p>The pointer being returned CLEARLY does not equal the struct literal when using *p, (effectively *(&person{"Frank", 15}).</p>
<hr/>**评论：**<br/><br/>gtarget: <pre><p>The syntax <code>*person</code> means a pointer to a <code>person</code>. When you return <code>&person{"Frank", 15}</code> you are saying return the address of the struct <code>person</code> you just created. A pointer is really just a variable holding the address of something else.</p></pre>Franke123: <pre><p>Got it! That makes sense now :) Thank you.</p></pre>dmikalova: <pre><p>Thanks, that cleared things up for me too.</p></pre>DualRearWheels: <pre><p>Quick tip: why would anyone use pointers anyway? 2 reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You can change struct using pointer from any place (loops, other functions etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>Performance difference can be huge compared to not using pointer.
With pointer program only copies address (4 or 8 bytes depending on your architecture). With struct as value program must copy much more (sum of all sizes of all fields, this can go to 100+ bytes depending on fields).</p></li>
</ol></pre>Franke123: <pre><p>Thanks! As a pretty new programmer who learned JS first, pointers can be kind of confusing! But I do see the advantages.</p></pre>
