golang/go

sizeof: new package with constants for Int, Uint, Uintptr, Int8, Float64, etc

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#29,982 opened on Jan 29, 2019

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Description

See the tail of the (closed) proposal #5602. There I suggested that instead of making unsafe.Sizeof a safe thing, which it still kinda isn't in general, we solve 90% of the problem by add easy-to-use constants to a safe package, such as:

package reflect

const (
  SizeofInt = <size on this machine>
  SizeofUint = SizeofInt
  SizeofBool = 1
  SizeofFloat64 = 8
  //...
)

These would be defined for primitive types only, not slices, maps, etc. You'd still need the unsafe package to handle them.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate how to add new constants to the reflect package that hold the sizes of primitive types, and ensure they are computed at compile time.
Tech stack
go
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
Go
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
70