A generic solution

With Go generics, a truly elegant solution to the above problem is finally possible — a single function that can return the address of a value of any type, ex. (Go playground):

  1. // Ptr returns *value.
  2. func Ptr[T any](value T) *T {
  3.     return &value
  4. }
  6. func main() {
  7.     // No local variables and the typed helper functions can be collapsed into
  8.     // a single, generic function for getting a pointer to a value.
  9.     print(request{
  10.         host: Ptr("local"),
  11.         port: Ptr(80),
  12.     })
  13. }

The function Ptr[T any](T) *T:

  • Takes any value of any type
  • Does not box the value
  • Returns a pointer for that value

How does this all work? What exactly is T? What is any? Keep reading to find out :smiley:…

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