Package sort in go affects all slices - sorting

I make a slice of strings in go. Then, I make two other slices. The first is the unsorted original slice, and the second is the sorted original slice. But, when I sort the second slice using package sort, the first slice is getting sorted as well. How can I sort only the second one?
og := []string{"go", "python", "java", "C++"}
unsorted :=og
sorted := og
sort.Strings(sorted)
fmt.Println("unsorted", unsorted)
fmt.Println("sorted", sorted)
Actual output:
unsorted [C++ go java python]
sorted [C++ go java python]
Expected output:
unsorted [go python java C++]
sorted [C++ go java python]

So slices are sometimes referred to as reference types. You can read more about the differences between arrays and slices here, for example (first page I found).
What a slice basically is, as you can see from the source in the runtime package (slice.go file):
type slice struct {
array unsafe.Pointer
len int
cap int
}
When you're assigning the slice to unsorted and the sorted variables, you're creating a copy of this underlying slice struct. You're essentially copying the pointer to the underlying array, which is being manipulated by sort.Strings(), hence both references to the slice will reflect these changes.
What you'll want to do is copy the slice into a new one to avoid seeing the order change a go playground snippet here.
For completeness sake:
og := []string{"go", "python", "java", "C++"}
unsorted := make([]string, len(og)) // create a new slice
copy(unsorted, og) // copy over values
sorted := og // this isn't a required line, you can just sort og
sort.Strings(sorted)
fmt.Printf("%#v\n%#v\n", unsorted, sorted)
Rather than using make and calling copy, you can simplify it as follows:
unsorted := append([]string{}, og...) // append to new slice == copy

When you assign one slice to a another you get a shallow copy.
They will both refer to the same underlying array of data.
If you want to modify one and keep the original, you would need to copy the content of the slice, then modify it.
package main
import (
"fmt"
"sort"
)
func copySlice(slice []string) []string {
newSlice := make([]string, len(slice))
copy(newSlice, slice)
return newSlice
}
func main() {
og := []string{"go", "python", "java", "C++"}
unsorted := copySlice(og)
sorted := copySlice(og)
sort.Strings(sorted)
fmt.Println("unsorted", unsorted)
fmt.Println("sorted", sorted)
}

Related

How to slice a slice for eliminating matching values from identical slice

I'm looking for an easy way to iterate through a slice and on every value that's present in the current slice, remove the element from another slice.
I have a struct:
a := enter{
uid: 1234,
status: []StatusEntry{
{
rank: 1,
iterate: ierationState_Ongoing,
},
{
rank: 2,
iterate: ierationState_Completed,
},
},
}
In my .go file, I have a constant
Steps = [5]int64{0,1,2,3,4}
According to my requirement I want to copy the Steps in another variable and perform remove operation :
Steps2 := Steps // Make a copy of Steps
for _, element := enter.status {
// Remove that element from Steps
}
But I find it difficult to do so since Golang doesn't give me direct method to iterate and remove every element from enter.status from Steps.
I tried multiple things like creating a removeIndex function as posted on various stackoverflow answers like this:
for i, element := enter.status {
Steps2 = removeIndex(enter.status, i)
}
func removeIndex(s []int, index int) []int {
ret := make([]int, 0)
ret = append(ret, s[:index]...)
return append(ret, s[index+1:]...)
}
But it doesn't make sense to use this because I'm trying to remove a matching value (element) and not a specific index (for eg index 5) from Steps2.
Basically, for every element that's in slice enter.status, I want to remove that element/value from slice Steps2
Careful:
[5]int64{0,1,2,3,4}
This is an array (of 5 ints), not a slice. And:
Steps2 := Steps
If Steps were a slice, this would copy the slice header without copying the underlying array.
In any case, given some slice s of type T and length len(s), if you are allowed to modify s in place and order is relevant, you generally want to use this algorithm:
func trim(s []T) []T {
out := 0
for i := range s {
if keep(s[i]) {
s[out] = s[i]
out++
}
}
return s[:out]
}
where keep is your boolean function to decide whether to keep an element. To make this produce a new slice, allocate an output slice of the appropriate length (len(s)) at the start and optionally shrink it later, or, if you expect to throw out most elements, make it empty at the start and use append.
When the keep function is "the value of some field in the output slice does not match the value of any earlier kept field" and the type of that field is usable as a key type, you can use a simple map[T2]struct{} to determine whether the value has occurred yet:
seen := make(map[T2]struct{}, len(s))
and then the keep test and copy sequence becomes:
_, ok := seen[s[i].field]
if !ok {
seen[s[i].field] = struct{}{}
s[out] = s[i]
out++
}
The initial size of seen here is optimized on the theory that most values will be kept; if most values will be discarded, make the map initially empty, or small.

Reassigning a slice parameter acts differently

package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
paths := []string{"hello", "world", "mars"}
var result = delete(paths, 1)
fmt.Println(result)
fmt.Println(paths)
}
func delete(paths []string, index int) []string {
paths = append(paths[:index], paths[index+1:]...)
return paths
}
The result of the code above is the following:
[hello mars]
[hello mars mars]
As you see, the second fmt.Println(paths) obviously uses the modified slice but does not use the reassigned value. Why is that? I was expecting it to print [hello mars] like in the print before.
I know that paths being passed is not the same slice as paths parameter in the delete() function expect for referencing the same underlying array. But I still don't understand how I changed the underlying array of the paths being passed to delete function as it prints [hello mars mars] instead of [hello world mars].
Because, as you said, the same underlying array is in use. When you do the append, paths[:1] is a slice of length 1 and capacity 3, and paths[2:] is a slice of length 1, so there is enough room in the underlying array of the first slice to append the new value without allocating a new array. paths in main is still a slice of length 3 since it was never modified, but since the underlying array was modified (specifically element 1), you see the value that you see.
You may want to take a look at https://blog.golang.org/go-slices-usage-and-internals if you haven't already.

Instead of printing in required format, it prints in unordered format

package main
import (
"fmt"
"bufio"
"os"
"strconv"
)
func main() {
mp := make(map[int]string)//make a mapping
in := bufio.NewScanner(os.Stdin)
fmt.Println("Limit and Enter Strings")
in.Scan()
n := in.Text()
num, err := strconv.Atoi(n)
fmt.Println(err)
for i:=0; i<=num;i++ {
in.Scan()
mp[i] = in.Text()
}
fmt.Println(mp)
}
/* Output Limit and Enter Strings
5
<nil>
one
two
three
four
five
six
map[3:four 4:five 5:six 0:one 1:two 2:three]*/
The program is for making mapping from int to string. When I enter numbers in sequential format it prints a mapping in incorrect order.
Go provides a built-in map type that implements a hash table.
When iterating over a map with a range loop, the iteration order is
not specified and is not guaranteed to be the same from one iteration
to the next. Since Go 1 the runtime randomizes map iteration order, as
programmers relied on the stable iteration order of the previous
implementation. If you require a stable iteration order you must
maintain a separate data structure that specifies that order. This
example uses a separate sorted slice of keys to print a map[int]string
in key order:
import "sort"
var m map[int]string
var keys []int
for k := range m {
keys = append(keys, k)
}
sort.Ints(keys)
for _, k := range keys {
fmt.Println("Key:", k, "Value:", m[k])
}
Link: https://blog.golang.org/go-maps-in-action
Maps in Go language are not iterated in order (Check out https://blog.golang.org/go-maps-in-action for more on this). It's like a hash. If you need to order, I suggest you consider storing the keys in a slice (in addition to storing the key-value pair in the map) and then when you need to print in the order you entered, iterate over the slice to get the keys, and then retrieve the value for each of the keys from the hash.

Are slices passed by value?

In Go, I am trying to make a scramble slice function for my traveling salesman problem. While doing this I noticed when I started editing the slice I gave the scramble function was different every time I passed it in.
After some debugging I found out it was due to me editing the slice inside the function. But since Go is supposed to be a "pass by value" language, how is this possible?
https://play.golang.org/p/mMivoH0TuV
I have provided a playground link to show what I mean.
By removing line 27 you get a different output than leaving it in, this should not make a difference since the function is supposed to make its own copy of the slice when passed in as an argument.
Can someone explain the phenomenon?
Everything in Go is passed by value, slices too. But a slice value is a header, describing a contiguous section of a backing array, and a slice value only contains a pointer to the array where the elements are actually stored. The slice value does not include its elements (unlike arrays).
So when you pass a slice to a function, a copy will be made from this header, including the pointer, which will point to the same backing array. Modifying the elements of the slice implies modifying the elements of the backing array, and so all slices which share the same backing array will "observe" the change.
To see what's in a slice header, check out the reflect.SliceHeader type:
type SliceHeader struct {
Data uintptr
Len int
Cap int
}
See related / possible duplicate question:
Performance of function slice parameter vs global variable?
Read blog post: Go Slices: usage and internals
Please note that when you pass a slice to a function, if the function modifies the "existing" elements of the slice, the caller will see / observe the changes. If the function adds new elements to the slice, that requires changing the slice header (the length at a minimum, but may also involve allocating a new backing array), which the caller will not see (not without returning the new slice header).
Not with maps, because maps are pointers under the hood, and if you pass a map to a function and the function adds a new entry to the map, the map pointer will not change so the caller will see the changed map (the new entry) without returning the map after change.
Also regarding slices and maps, see Map initialization in Go and why slice values can sometimes go stale but never map values?
You can find an example below. Briefly slices is also passed by value but original slice and copied slice are linked to the same underlying array. If one of this slice changes, then underlying array changes, then other slice changes.
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
x := []int{1, 10, 100, 1000}
double(x)
fmt.Println(x) // ----> 3 will print [2, 20, 200, 2000] (original slice changed)
}
func double(y []int) {
fmt.Println(y) // ----> 1 will print [1, 10, 100, 1000]
for i := 0; i < len(y); i++ {
y[i] *= 2
}
fmt.Println(y) // ----> 2 will print [2, 20, 200, 2000] (copy slice + under array changed)
}
Slices when its passed it’s passed with the pointer to underlying array, so a slice is a small structure that points to an underlying array. The small structure is copied, but it still points to the same underlying array. the memory block containing the slice elements is passed by "reference". The slice information triplet holding the capacity, the number of element and the pointer to the elements is passed by value.
The best way to handle slices passing to function (if the elements of the slice are manipulated into the function, and we do not want this to be reflected at the elements memory block is to copy them using copy(s, *c) as:
package main
import "fmt"
type Team []Person
type Person struct {
Name string
Age int
}
func main() {
team := Team{
Person{"Hasan", 34}, Person{"Karam", 32},
}
fmt.Printf("original before clonning: %v\n", team)
team_cloned := team.Clone()
fmt.Printf("original after clonning: %v\n", team)
fmt.Printf("clones slice: %v\n", team_cloned)
}
func (c *Team) Clone() Team {
var s = make(Team, len(*c))
copy(s, *c)
for index, _ := range s {
s[index].Name = "change name"
}
return s
}
But be careful, if this slice is containing a sub slice further copying is required, as we'll still have the sub slice elements sharing pointing to the same memory block elements, an example is:
type Inventories []Inventory
type Inventory struct { //instead of: map[string]map[string]Pairs
Warehouse string
Item string
Batches Lots
}
type Lots []Lot
type Lot struct {
Date time.Time
Key string
Value float64
}
func main() {
ins := Inventory{
Warehouse: "DMM",
Item: "Gloves",
Batches: Lots{
Lot{mustTime(time.Parse(custom, "1/7/2020")), "Jan", 50},
Lot{mustTime(time.Parse(custom, "2/1/2020")), "Feb", 70},
},
}
inv2 := CloneFrom(c Inventories)
}
func (i *Inventories) CloneFrom(c Inventories) {
inv := new(Inventories)
for _, v := range c {
batches := Lots{}
for _, b := range v.Batches {
batches = append(batches, Lot{
Date: b.Date,
Key: b.Key,
Value: b.Value,
})
}
*inv = append(*inv, Inventory{
Warehouse: v.Warehouse,
Item: v.Item,
Batches: batches,
})
}
(*i).ReplaceBy(inv)
}
func (i *Inventories) ReplaceBy(x *Inventories) {
*i = *x
}
Slice will work with pass by value to the function, But we should not use append to add values to slice in the function, instead we should use the assignment directly. Reason being that append will create new memory and copy values to that. Here is the example.
Go playground
// Go program to illustrate how to
// pass a slice to the function
package main
import "fmt"
// Function in which slice
// is passed by value
func myfun(element []string) {
// Here we only modify the slice
// Using append function
// Here, this function only modifies
// the copy of the slice present in
// the function not the original slice
element = append(element, "blackhole")
fmt.Println("Modified slice: ", element)
}
func main() {
// Creating a slice
slc := []string{"rocket", "galaxy", "stars", "milkyway"}
fmt.Println("Initial slice: ", slc)
//slice pass by value
myfun(slc)
fmt.Println("Final slice: ", slc)
}
Output-
Initial slice: [rocket galaxy stars milkyway]
Modified slice: [rocket galaxy stars milkyway blackhole]
Final slice: [rocket galaxy stars milkyway]
Go Playground
// Go program to illustrate how to
// pass a slice to the function
package main
import "fmt"
// Function in which slice
// is passed by value
func myfun(element []string) {
// Here we only modify the slice
// Using append function
// Here, this function only modifies
// the copy of the slice present in
// the function not the original slice
element[0] = "Spaceship"
element[4] = "blackhole"
element[5] = "cosmos"
fmt.Println("Modified slice: ", element)
}
func main() {
// Creating a slice
slc := []string{"rocket", "galaxy", "stars", "milkyway", "", ""}
fmt.Println("Initial slice: ", slc)
//slice pass by value
myfun(slc)
fmt.Println("Final slice: ", slc)
}
Output-
Initial slice: [rocket galaxy stars milkyway ]
Modified slice: [Spaceship galaxy stars milkyway blackhole cosmos]
Final slice: [Spaceship galaxy stars milkyway blackhole cosmos]
To complement this post, here is an example of passing by reference for the Golang PlayGround you shared:
type point struct {
x int
y int
}
func main() {
data := []point{{1, 2}, {3, 4}, {5, 6}, {7, 8}}
makeRandomDatas(&data)
}
func makeRandomDatas(dataPoints *[]point) {
for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
if len(*dataPoints) > 0 {
fmt.Println(makeRandomData(dataPoints))
} else {
fmt.Println("no more elements")
}
}
}
func makeRandomData(cities *[]point) []point {
solution := []point{(*cities)[0]} //create a new slice with the first item from the old slice
*cities = append((*cities)[:0], (*cities)[1:]...) //remove the first item from the old slice
return solution
}

range over addressess of struct array

I have a struct array of type []Struct. When I range over it in the form:
for i, val := range mystructarray
I understand that val is a local variable which contains a copy of mystructarray[i]. Is there a better way of iterating through the addressess of mystructarray than this:
for i := range mystructarray{
valptr = &mystructarray[i]
}
?
There is no way to iterate while receiving a pointer to the contents of the slice (unless of course, it is a slice of pointers).
Your example is the best way:
for i := range mySlice {
x = &mySlice[i]
// do something with x
}
Remember however, if your structs aren't very large, and you don't need to operate on them via a pointer, it may be faster to copy the struct, and provide you with clearer code.

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