What are the best practices for encapsulation in Go?

What are the best practices for encapsulation in Go?

Encapsulation in Go involves using unexported types and methods to hide implementation details. Here are some best practices:

1. Use unexported fields in structs to prevent direct access.
2. Provide exported methods to manipulate these fields.
3. Keep your API surface minimal to reduce complexity.

Can you give an example of using unexported fields?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

package main

type person struct {
    name string // unexported field
}

func NewPerson(name string) *person {
    return &person{name: name}
}

func (p *person) GetName() string {
    return p.name // exported method to access unexported field
}
}

What are the benefits of encapsulation?

Encapsulation helps in:

1. Protecting the internal state of an object.
2. Reducing complexity by hiding implementation details.
3. Enhancing code maintainability and flexibility.

How does encapsulation differ from abstraction?

Encapsulation is about bundling data and methods that operate on that data, while abstraction focuses on hiding the complexity by providing a simplified interface. Both are key principles in object-oriented design.