Struct Methods

While Go is not an object-oriented language in the traditional sense, it supports methods. A method is simply a function that has a receiver.

Receiver Syntax

The receiver is a special parameter that goes before the function name in parentheses.

type rect struct {
    width  int
    height int
}

// (r rect) is the receiver
func (r rect) area() int {
    return r.width * r.height
}

func main() {
    myRect := rect{width: 5, height: 10}
    fmt.Println(myRect.area()) // 50
}

Conventions

• By convention, the receiver name is usually the first letter of the struct’s name (e.g., r for rect).
• Methods allow you to encapsulate logic that belongs to a specific type, making your code easier to read and maintain.

Interfaces

Receivers are critical because they allow structs to satisfy interfaces, which is Go’s primary way of achieving polymorphism.