How do I make a customized type array of customized type elements in Go?

Question

I'm attempting to create a person with a name and salary, then an array of persons. The error I get at "data[0] = a" states: "cannot use a (type person) as type *person in assignment." Is there some sort of casting I need to do, as in Java?

package main

import "fmt"

type person struct {
    name   string
    salary float64
}

type people []*person

func main() {

    var data = make(people, 10)

    var a person
    var b person
    a.name = "John Smith"
    a.salary = 74000
    b.name = "Jane Smith"
    b.salary = 82000

    data[0] = a
    data[1] = b

    fmt.Print(data)
}

Answer 1

You construct slice of pointers to person . That's why you should take pointer of you a and b .

package main

import "fmt"

type person struct {
    name   string
    salary float64
}

type people []*person

func main() {
    var data = make(people, 10)

    var a person
    var b person
    a.name = "John Smith"
    a.salary = 74000
    b.name = "Jane Smith"
    b.salary = 82000

    data[0] = &a
    data[1] = &b

    fmt.Print(data)
}

Alternative approach is to define a and b as pointers to structs.

package main

import "fmt"

type person struct {
    name   string
    salary float64
}

type people []*person

func main() {
    var data = make(people, 10)
    a := &person{}
    b := &person{}

    a.name = "John Smith"
    a.salary = 74000
    b.name = "Jane Smith"
    b.salary = 82000

    data[0] = a
    data[1] = b

    fmt.Print(data)
}