What is the difference between Go's slice and array types?

In Go, arrays and slices are two different types that are used to store ordered collections of elements.

An array is a fixed-size collection of elements of the same type. Once an array is created, its size cannot be changed. Elements in an array can be accessed using a zero-based index.

A slice, on the other hand, is a dynamic data structure that represents a segment of an underlying array. Unlike arrays, slices can be resized and modified. Slices are created using the **make** function, which takes a type and a length (and an optional capacity) as arguments. Elements in a slice can also be accessed using a zero-based index.

One important difference between arrays and slices is how they are passed as arguments to functions. When an array is passed to a function, a copy of the entire array is made. This can be inefficient for large arrays. Slices, on the other hand, are passed by reference, so only a pointer to the underlying array is copied. This makes passing slices to functions more efficient, especially for large data sets.

Another difference is how they are initialized. Arrays can be initialized using a fixed set of values, while slices can be initialized using an existing array or another slice, or by simply creating a new slice and adding elements to it using the **append** function.

Overall, slices are more commonly used in Go due to their flexibility and convenience in managing collections of data.