What is the difference between Go's type aliases and type casting?
Go's type aliases and type casting are two different concepts related to the Go type system.
Type aliases in Go allow the developer to define a new type that is an alias for an existing type. This means that the new type has the same underlying representation and operations as the original type, and can be used interchangeably with it. Type aliases are typically used to improve the readability and clarity of the code by creating descriptive names for existing types.
Type casting, on the other hand, refers to the conversion of one type to another. In Go, type casting is done using the syntax **T(v)**
, where **T**
is the target type and **v**
is the value to be converted. The result of a type cast is a new value of the target type that represents the original value in a different form.
The main difference between type aliases and type casting is that type aliases create a new type with the same underlying representation as the original type, while type casting converts an existing value from one type to another. Type aliases are static and do not affect the runtime behavior of the program, while type casting can have an impact on the program's behavior if the conversion is not valid or results in a loss of precision or information.
In summary, type aliases are used to create descriptive names for existing types, while type casting is used to convert values from one type to another.