doc/go_spec.html - go - Git at Google

 <!-- The Go Programming Language Specification -->

 <!--
 Todo
 [ ] clarify: two equal lowercase identifiers from different packages denote different objects
 [ ] need language about function/method calls and parameter passing rules
 [ ] need to say something about "scope" of selectors?
 [ ] clarify what a field name is in struct declarations
     (struct{T} vs struct {T T} vs struct {t T})
 [ ] need explicit language about the result type of operations
 [ ] may want to have some examples for the types of shift operations
 [ ] should string(1<<s) and float(1<<s) be valid?
 [ ] should probably write something about evaluation order of statements even
 	though obvious
 [ ] specify iteration direction for range clause
 [ ] review language on implicit dereferencing
 -->


 <h2 id="Introduction">Introduction</h2>

 <p>
 This is a reference manual for the Go programming language. For
 more information and other documents, see <a href="http://go/go">go/go</a>.
 </p>

 <p>
 Go is a general-purpose language designed with systems programming
 in mind. It is strongly typed and garbage-collected and has explicit
 support for concurrent programming.  Programs are constructed from
 <i>packages</i>, whose properties allow efficient management of
 dependencies. The existing implementations use a traditional
 compile/link model to generate executable binaries.
 </p>

 <p>
 The grammar is compact and regular, allowing for easy analysis by
 automatic tools such as integrated development environments.
 </p>

 <h2 id="Notation">Notation</h2>
 <p>
 The syntax is specified using Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF):
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 Production  = production_name "=" Expression "." .
 Expression  = Alternative { "|" Alternative } .
 Alternative = Term { Term } .
 Term        = production_name | token [ "..." token ] | Group | Option | Repetition .
 Group       = "(" Expression ")" .
 Option      = "[" Expression "]" .
 Repetition  = "{" Expression "}" .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Productions are expressions constructed from terms and the following
 operators, in increasing precedence:
 </p>
 <pre class="grammar">
 |   alternation
 ()  grouping
 []  option (0 or 1 times)
 {}  repetition (0 to n times)
 </pre>

 <p>
 Lower-case production names are used to identify lexical tokens.
 Non-terminals are in CamelCase. Lexical symbols are enclosed in
 double quotes <code>""</code> or back quotes <code>``</code>.
 </p>

 <p>
 The form <code>a ... b</code> represents the set of characters from
 <code>a</code> through <code>b</code> as alternatives.
 </p>

 <h2 id="Source_code_representation">Source code representation</h2>

 <p>
 Source code is Unicode text encoded in UTF-8. The text is not
 canonicalized, so a single accented code point is distinct from the
 same character constructed from combining an accent and a letter;
 those are treated as two code points.  For simplicity, this document
 will use the term <i>character</i> to refer to a Unicode code point.
 </p>
 <p>
 Each code point is distinct; for instance, upper and lower case letters
 are different characters.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Characters">Characters</h3>

 <p>
 The following terms are used to denote specific Unicode character classes:
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 unicode_char   = /* an arbitrary Unicode code point */ .
 unicode_letter = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Letter" */ .
 unicode_digit  = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Digit" */ .
 </pre>

 <p>
 In <a href="http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode5.1.0/">The Unicode Standard 5.1</a>,
 Section 4.5 General Category-Normative
 defines a set of character categories.  Go treats
 those characters in category Lu, Ll, Lt, Lm, or Lo as Unicode letters,
 and those in category Nd as Unicode digits.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Letters_and_digits">Letters and digits</h3>

 <p>
 The underscore character <code>_</code> (U+005F) is considered a letter.
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 letter        = unicode_letter | "_" .
 decimal_digit = "0" ... "9" .
 octal_digit   = "0" ... "7" .
 hex_digit     = "0" ... "9" | "A" ... "F" | "a" ... "f" .
 </pre>

 <h2 id="Lexical_elements">Lexical elements</h2>

 <h3 id="Comments">Comments</h3>

 <p>
 There are two forms of comments.  The first starts at the character
 sequence <code>//</code> and continues through the next newline.  The
 second starts at the character sequence <code>/*</code> and continues
 through the character sequence <code>*/</code>.  Comments do not nest.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Tokens">Tokens</h3>

 <p>
 Tokens form the vocabulary of the Go language.
 There are four classes: identifiers, keywords, operators
 and delimiters, and literals.  <i>White space</i>, formed from
 blanks, tabs, and newlines, is ignored except as it separates tokens
 that would otherwise combine into a single token.  Comments
 behave as white space.  While breaking the input into tokens,
 the next token is the longest sequence of characters that form a
 valid token.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Identifiers">Identifiers</h3>

 <p>
 Identifiers name program entities such as variables and types.
 An identifier is a sequence of one or more letters and digits.
 The first character in an identifier must be a letter.
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 identifier = letter { letter | unicode_digit } .
 </pre>
 <pre>
 a
 _x9
 ThisVariableIsExported
 αβ
 </pre>
 Some identifiers are <a href="#Predeclared_identifiers">predeclared</a>.

 <h3 id="Keywords">Keywords</h3>

 <p>
 The following keywords are reserved and may not be used as identifiers.
 </p>
 <pre class="grammar">
 break        default      func         interface    select
 case         defer        go           map          struct
 chan         else         goto         package      switch
 const        fallthrough  if           range        type
 continue     for          import       return       var
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Operators_and_Delimiters">Operators and Delimiters</h3>

 <p>
 The following character sequences represent <a href="#Operators">operators</a>, delimiters, and other special tokens:
 </p>
 <pre class="grammar">
 +    &amp;     +=    &amp;=     &amp;&amp;    ==    !=    (    )
 -    |     -=    |=     ||    &lt;     &lt;=    [    ]
 *    ^     *=    ^=     &lt;-    &gt;     &gt;=    {    }
 /    &lt;&lt;    /=    &lt;&lt;=    ++    =     :=    ,    ;
 %    &gt;&gt;    %=    &gt;&gt;=    --    !     ...   .    :
      &amp;^          &amp;^=
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Integer_literals">Integer literals</h3>

 <p>
 An integer literal is a sequence of digits representing an
 <a href="#Constants">integer constant</a>.
 An optional prefix sets a non-decimal base: <code>0</code> for octal, <code>0x</code> or
 <code>0X</code> for hexadecimal.  In hexadecimal literals, letters
 <code>a-f</code> and <code>A-F</code> represent values 10 through 15.
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 int_lit     = decimal_lit | octal_lit | hex_lit .
 decimal_lit = ( "1" ... "9" ) { decimal_digit } .
 octal_lit   = "0" { octal_digit } .
 hex_lit     = "0" ( "x" | "X" ) hex_digit { hex_digit } .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 42
 0600
 0xBadFace
 170141183460469231731687303715884105727
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Floating-point_literals">Floating-point literals</h3>
 <p>
 A floating-point literal is a decimal representation of a
 <a href="#Constants">floating-point constant</a>.
 It has an integer part, a decimal point, a fractional part,
 and an exponent part.  The integer and fractional part comprise
 decimal digits; the exponent part is an <code>e</code> or <code>E</code>
 followed by an optionally signed decimal exponent.  One of the
 integer part or the fractional part may be elided; one of the decimal
 point or the exponent may be elided.
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 float_lit = decimals "." [ decimals ] [ exponent ] |
             decimals exponent |
             "." decimals [ exponent ] .
 decimals  = decimal_digit { decimal_digit } .
 exponent  = ( "e" | "E" ) [ "+" | "-" ] decimals .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 0.
 2.71828
 1.e+0
 6.67428e-11
 1E6
 .25
 .12345E+5
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Character_literals">Character literals</h3>

 <p>
 A character literal represents an <a href="#Constants">integer constant</a>,
 typically a Unicode code point, as one or more characters enclosed in single
 quotes.  Within the quotes, any character may appear except single
 quote and newline. A single quoted character represents itself,
 while multi-character sequences beginning with a backslash encode
 values in various formats.
 </p>
 <p>
 The simplest form represents the single character within the quotes;
 since Go source text is Unicode characters encoded in UTF-8, multiple
 UTF-8-encoded bytes may represent a single integer value.  For
 instance, the literal <code>'a'</code> holds a single byte representing
 a literal <code>a</code>, Unicode U+0061, value <code>0x61</code>, while
 <code>'ä'</code> holds two bytes (<code>0xc3</code> <code>0xa4</code>) representing
 a literal <code>a</code>-dieresis, U+00E4, value <code>0xe4</code>.
 </p>
 <p>
 Several backslash escapes allow arbitrary values to be represented
 as ASCII text.  There are four ways to represent the integer value
 as a numeric constant: <code>\x</code> followed by exactly two hexadecimal
 digits; <code>\u</code> followed by exactly four hexadecimal digits;
 <code>\U</code> followed by exactly eight hexadecimal digits, and a
 plain backslash <code>\</code> followed by exactly three octal digits.
 In each case the value of the literal is the value represented by
 the digits in the corresponding base.
 </p>
 <p>
 Although these representations all result in an integer, they have
 different valid ranges.  Octal escapes must represent a value between
 0 and 255 inclusive.  Hexadecimal escapes satisfy this condition
 by construction. The escapes <code>\u</code> and <code>\U</code>
 represent Unicode code points so within them some values are illegal,
 in particular those above <code>0x10FFFF</code> and surrogate halves.
 </p>
 <p>
 After a backslash, certain single-character escapes represent special values:
 </p>
 <pre class="grammar">
 \a   U+0007 alert or bell
 \b   U+0008 backspace
 \f   U+000C form feed
 \n   U+000A line feed or newline
 \r   U+000D carriage return
 \t   U+0009 horizontal tab
 \v   U+000b vertical tab
 \\   U+005c backslash
 \'   U+0027 single quote  (valid escape only within character literals)
 \"   U+0022 double quote  (valid escape only within string literals)
 </pre>
 <p>
 All other sequences are illegal inside character literals.
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 char_lit         = "'" ( unicode_value | byte_value ) "'" .
 unicode_value    = unicode_char | little_u_value | big_u_value | escaped_char .
 byte_value       = octal_byte_value | hex_byte_value .
 octal_byte_value = `\` octal_digit octal_digit octal_digit .
 hex_byte_value   = `\` "x" hex_digit hex_digit .
 little_u_value   = `\` "u" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit .
 big_u_value      = `\` "U" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit
                            hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit .
 escaped_char     = `\` ( "a" | "b" | "f" | "n" | "r" | "t" | "v" | `\` | "'" | `"` ) .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 'a'
 'ä'
 '本'
 '\t'
 '\000'
 '\007'
 '\377'
 '\x07'
 '\xff'
 '\u12e4'
 '\U00101234'
 </pre>


 <h3 id="String_literals">String literals</h3>

 <p>
 A string literal represents a <a href="#Constants">string constant</a>
 obtained from concatenating a sequence of characters. There are two forms:
 raw string literals and interpreted string literals.
 </p>
 <p>
 Raw string literals are character sequences between back quotes
 <code>``</code>.  Within the quotes, any character is legal except
 back quote. The value of a raw string literal is the
 string composed of the uninterpreted characters between the quotes;
 in particular, backslashes have no special meaning and the string may
 span multiple lines.
 </p>
 <p>
 Interpreted string literals are character sequences between double
 quotes <code>&quot;&quot;</code>. The text between the quotes forms the
 value of the literal, with backslash escapes interpreted as they
 are in character literals (except that <code>\'</code> is illegal and
 <code>\"</code> is legal).  The three-digit octal (<code>\000</code>)
 and two-digit hexadecimal (<code>\x00</code>) escapes represent individual
 <i>bytes</i> of the resulting string; all other escapes represent
 the (possibly multi-byte) UTF-8 encoding of individual <i>characters</i>.
 Thus inside a string literal <code>\377</code> and <code>\xFF</code> represent
 a single byte of value <code>0xFF</code>=255, while <code>ÿ</code>,
 <code>\u00FF</code>, <code>\U000000FF</code> and <code>\xc3\xbf</code> represent
 the two bytes <code>0xc3</code> <code>0xbf</code> of the UTF-8 encoding of character
 U+00FF.
 </p>

 <p>
 A sequence of string literals is concatenated to form a single string.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 StringLit              = string_lit { string_lit } .
 string_lit             = raw_string_lit | interpreted_string_lit .
 raw_string_lit         = "`" { unicode_char } "`" .
 interpreted_string_lit = `"` { unicode_value | byte_value } `"` .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 `abc`  // same as "abc"
 `\n
 \n`    // same as "\\n\n\\n"
 "\n"
 ""
 "Hello, world!\n"
 "日本語"
 "\u65e5本\U00008a9e"
 "\xff\u00FF"
 "Alea iacta est."
 "Alea " /* The die */ `iacta est` /* is cast */ "."  // same as "Alea iacta est."
 </pre>

 <p>
 These examples all represent the same string:
 </p>

 <pre>
 "日本語"                                 // UTF-8 input text
 `日本語`                                 // UTF-8 input text as a raw literal
 "\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e"                    // The explicit Unicode code points
 "\U000065e5\U0000672c\U00008a9e"        // The explicit Unicode code points
 "\xe6\x97\xa5\xe6\x9c\xac\xe8\xaa\x9e"  // The explicit UTF-8 bytes
 </pre>

 <p>
 If the source code represents a character as two code points, such as
 a combining form involving an accent and a letter, the result will be
 an error if placed in a character literal (it is not a single code
 point), and will appear as two code points if placed in a string
 literal.
 </p>


 <h2 id="Constants">Constants</h2>

 <p>There are <i>boolean constants</i>, <i>integer constants</i>, <i>floating-point constants</i>,
 and <i>string constants</i>. Integer and floating-point constants are
 collectively called <i>numeric constants</i>.
 </p>

 <p>
 A constant value is represented by an
 <a href="#Integer_literals">integer</a>,
 <a href="#Floating-point_literals">floating-point</a>,
 <a href="#Character_literals">character</a>, or
 <a href="#String_literals">string</a> literal,
 an identifier denoting a constant,
 a <a href="#Constant_expressions">constant expression</a>, or
 the result value of some built-in functions such as <code>unsafe.Sizeof</code>
 and <code>cap</code> or <code>len</code> applied to an array,
 or <code>len</code> applied to a string constant.
 The boolean truth values are represented by the predeclared constants
 <code>true</code> and <code>false</code>. The predeclared identifier
 <a href="#Iota">iota</a> denotes an integer constant.
 </p>

 <p>
 Numeric constants represent values of arbitrary precision that
 have no size and cannot overflow.
 </p>

 <p>
 Constants may be <a href="#Types">typed</a> or untyped.
 Literal constants, <code>true</code>, <code>false</code>, <code>iota</code>,
 and certain <a href="#Constant_expressions">constant expressions</a>
 containing only untyped constant operands are untyped.
 </p>

 <p>
 A constant may be given a type explicitly by a <a href="#Constant_declarations">constant declaration</a>
 or <a href="#Conversions">conversion</a>, or implicitly when used in a
 <a href="#Variable_declarations">variable declaration</a> or an
 <a href="#Assignments">assignment</a> or as an
 operand in an <a href="#Expressions">expression</a>.
 It is an error if the constant value
 cannot be accurately represented as a value of the respective type.
 For instance, <code>3.0</code> can be given any integer type but also any
 floating-point type, while <code>-1e12</code> can be given the types
 <code>float32</code>, <code>float64</code>, or even <code>int64</code> but
 not <code>uint64</code> or <code>string</code>.
 </p>

 <p>
 Implementation restriction: A compiler may implement numeric constants by choosing
 an internal representation with at least twice as many bits as any machine type;
 for floating-point values, both the mantissa and exponent must be twice as large.
 </p>


 <h2 id="Types">Types</h2>

 <p>
 A type determines the set of values and operations specific to values of that
 type.  A type may be specified by a (possibly qualified) <i>type name</i>
 (§<a href="#Qualified_identifier">Qualified identifier</a>, §<a href="#Type_declarations">Type declarations</a>) or a <i>type literal</i>,
 which composes a new type from previously declared types.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Type      = TypeName | TypeLit | "(" Type ")" .
 TypeName  = QualifiedIdent.
 TypeLit   = ArrayType | StructType | PointerType | FunctionType | InterfaceType |
 	    SliceType | MapType | ChannelType .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Named instances of the boolean, numeric, and string types are
 <a href="#Predeclared_identifiers">predeclared</a>.
 <i>Composite types</i>&mdash;array, struct, pointer, function,
 interface, slice, map, and channel types&mdash;may be constructed using
 type literals.
 </p>

 <p>
 A type may have a <i>method set</i> associated with it
 (§<a href="#Interface_types">Interface types</a>, §<a href="#Method_declarations">Method declarations</a>).
 The method set of an <a href="#Interface_types">interface type</a> is its interface.
 The method set of any other named type <code>T</code>
 consists of all methods with receiver type <code>T</code>.
 The method set of the corresponding pointer type <code>*T</code>
 is the set of all methods with receiver <code>*T</code> or <code>T</code>
 (that is, it also contains the method set of <code>T</code>).
 Any other type has an empty method set.
 In a method set, each method must have a unique name.
 </p>
 <p>
 The <i>static type</i> (or just <i>type</i>) of a variable is the
 type defined by its declaration.  Variables of interface type
 also have a distinct <i>dynamic type</i>, which
 is the actual type of the value stored in the variable at run-time.
 The dynamic type may vary during execution but is always assignment compatible
 to the static type of the interface variable.  For non-interface
 types, the dynamic type is always the static type.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Boolean_types">Boolean types</h3>

 A <i>boolean type</i> represents the set of Boolean truth values
 denoted by the predeclared constants <code>true</code>
 and <code>false</code>. The predeclared boolean type is <code>bool</code>.


 <h3 id="Numeric_types">Numeric types</h3>

 <p>
 A <i>numeric type</i> represents sets of integer or floating-point values.
 The predeclared architecture-independent numeric types are:
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 uint8    the set of all unsigned  8-bit integers (0 to 255)
 uint16   the set of all unsigned 16-bit integers (0 to 65535)
 uint32   the set of all unsigned 32-bit integers (0 to 4294967295)
 uint64   the set of all unsigned 64-bit integers (0 to 18446744073709551615)

 int8     the set of all signed  8-bit integers (-128 to 127)
 int16    the set of all signed 16-bit integers (-32768 to 32767)
 int32    the set of all signed 32-bit integers (-2147483648 to 2147483647)
 int64    the set of all signed 64-bit integers (-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807)

 float32  the set of all IEEE-754 32-bit floating-point numbers
 float64  the set of all IEEE-754 64-bit floating-point numbers

 byte     familiar alias for uint8
 </pre>

 <p>
 Integer types are represented in the usual binary format; the value of
 an n-bit integer is n bits wide. A negative signed integer is represented
 as the two's complement of its absolute value.
 </p>

 <p>
 There is also a set of predeclared numeric types with implementation-specific sizes:
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 uint     either 32 or 64 bits
 int      either 32 or 64 bits
 float    either 32 or 64 bits
 uintptr  an unsigned integer large enough to store the uninterpreted bits of a pointer value
 </pre>

 <p>
 To avoid portability issues all numeric types are distinct except
 <code>byte</code>, which is an alias for <code>uint8</code>.
 Conversions
 are required when incompatible numeric types are mixed in an expression
 or assignment. For instance, <code>int32</code> and <code>int</code>
 are not the same type even though they may have the same size on a
 particular architecture.


 <h3 id="String_types">String types</h3>

 <p>
 A <i>string type</i> represents the set of string values.
 Strings behave like arrays of bytes but are immutable: once created,
 it is impossible to change the contents of a string.
 The predeclared string type is <code>string</code>.

 <p>
 The elements of strings have type <code>byte</code> and may be
 accessed using the usual <a href="#Indexes">indexing operations</a>.  It is
 illegal to take the address of such an element; if
 <code>s[i]</code> is the <i>i</i>th byte of a
 string, <code>&amp;s[i]</code> is invalid.  The length of string
 <code>s</code> can be discovered using the built-in function
 <code>len</code>. The length is a compile-time constant if <code>s</code>
 is a string literal.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Array_types">Array types</h3>

 <p>
 An array is a numbered sequence of elements of a single
 type, called the element type.
 The number of elements is called the length and is never
 negative.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ArrayType   = "[" ArrayLength "]" ElementType .
 ArrayLength = Expression .
 ElementType = Type .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The length is part of the array's type and must must be a
 <a href="#Constant_expressions">constant expression</a> that evaluates to a non-negative
 integer value.  The length of array <code>a</code> can be discovered
 using the built-in function <code>len(a)</code>, which is a
 compile-time constant.  The elements can be indexed by integer
 indices 0 through the <code>len(a)-1</code> (§<a href="#Indexes">Indexes</a>).
 </p>

 <pre>
 [32]byte
 [2*N] struct { x, y int32 }
 [1000]*float64
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Slice_types">Slice types</h3>

 <p>
 A slice is a reference to a contiguous segment of an array and
 contains a numbered sequence of elements from that array.  A slice
 type denotes the set of all slices of arrays of its element type.
 A slice value may be <code>nil</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 SliceType = "[" "]" ElementType .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Like arrays, slices are indexable and have a length.  The length of a
 slice <code>s</code> can be discovered by the built-in function
 <code>len(s)</code>; unlike with arrays it may change during
 execution.  The elements can be addressed by integer indices 0
 through <code>len(s)-1</code> (§<a href="#Indexes">Indexes</a>).  The slice index of a
 given element may be less than the index of the same element in the
 underlying array.
 </p>
 <p>
 A slice, once initialized, is always associated with an underlying
 array that holds its elements.  A slice therfore shares storage
 with its array and with other slices of the same array; by contrast,
 distinct arrays always represent distinct storage.
 </p>
 <p>
 The array underlying a slice may extend past the end of the slice.
 The <i>capacity</i> is a measure of that extent: it is the sum of
 the length of the slice and the length of the array beyond the slice;
 a slice of length up to that capacity can be created by `slicing' a new
 one from the original slice (§<a href="#Slices">Slices</a>).
 The capacity of a slice <code>a</code> can be discovered using the
 built-in function <code>cap(a)</code> and the relationship between
 <code>len()</code> and <code>cap()</code> is:
 </p>

 <pre>
 0 <= len(a) <= cap(a)
 </pre>

 <p>
 The value of an uninitialized slice is <code>nil</code>.
 The length and capacity of a <code>nil</code> slice
 are 0. A new, initialized slice value for a given element type <code>T</code> is
 made using the built-in function <code>make</code>, which takes a slice type
 and parameters specifying the length and optionally the capacity:
 </p>

 <pre>
 make([]T, length)
 make([]T, length, capacity)
 </pre>

 <p>
 The <code>make()</code> call allocates a new, hidden array to which the returned
 slice value refers. That is, executing
 </p>

 <pre>
 make([]T, length, capacity)
 </pre>

 <p>
 produces the same slice as allocating an array and slicing it, so these two examples
 result in the same slice:
 </p>

 <pre>
 make([]int, 50, 100)
 new([100]int)[0:50]
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Struct_types">Struct types</h3>

 <p>
 A struct is a sequence of named
 elements, called fields, with various types. A struct type declares
 an identifier and type for each field. Within a struct, non-<a href="#Blank_identifier">blank</a>
 field identifiers must be unique.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 StructType = "struct" "{" [ FieldDeclList ] "}" .
 FieldDeclList = FieldDecl { ";" FieldDecl } [ ";" ] .
 FieldDecl = (IdentifierList Type | [ "*" ] TypeName) [ Tag ] .
 Tag = StringLit .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 // An empty struct.
 struct {}

 // A struct with 6 fields.
 struct {
 	x, y int;
 	u float;
 	_ float;  // padding
 	A *[]int;
 	F func();
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 A field declared with a type but no field identifier is an <i>anonymous field</i>.
 Such a field type must be specified as
 a type name <code>T</code> or as a pointer to a type name <code>*T</code>,
 and <code>T</code> itself may not be
 a pointer type. The unqualified type name acts as the field identifier.
 </p>

 <pre>
 // A struct with four anonymous fields of type T1, *T2, P.T3 and *P.T4
 struct {
 	T1;        // the field name is T1
 	*T2;       // the field name is T2
 	P.T3;      // the field name is T3
 	*P.T4;     // the field name is T4
 	x, y int;
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 The unqualified type name of an anonymous field must be distinct from the
 field identifier (or unqualified type name for an anonymous field) of every
 other field within the struct. The following declaration is illegal:
 </p>

 <pre>
 struct {
 	T;         // conflicts with anonymous field *T and *P.T
 	*T;        // conflicts with anonymous field T and *P.T
 	*P.T;      // conflicts with anonymous field T and *T
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 Fields and methods (§<a href="#Method_declarations">Method declarations</a>) of an anonymous field are
 promoted to be ordinary fields and methods of the struct (§<a href="#Selectors">Selectors</a>).
 The following rules apply for a struct type named <code>S</code> and
 a type named <code>T</code>:
 </p>
 <ul>
 	<li>If <code>S</code> contains an anonymous field <code>T</code>, the
 	    method set of <code>S</code> includes the method set of <code>T</code>.
 	</li>

 	<li>If <code>S</code> contains an anonymous field <code>*T</code>, the
 	    method set of <code>S</code> includes the method set of <code>*T</code>
 	    (which itself includes the method set of <code>T</code>).
 	</li>

 	<li>If <code>S</code> contains an anonymous field <code>T</code> or
 	    <code>*T</code>, the method set of <code>*S</code> includes the
 	    method set of <code>*T</code> (which itself includes the method
 	    set of <code>T</code>).
 	</li>
 </ul>
 <p>
 A field declaration may be followed by an optional string literal <i>tag</i>,
 which becomes an attribute for all the identifiers in the corresponding
 field declaration. The tags are made
 visible through a <a href="#Package_unsafe">reflection interface</a>
 but are otherwise ignored.
 </p>

 <pre>
 // A struct corresponding to the TimeStamp protocol buffer.
 // The tag strings define the protocol buffer field numbers.
 struct {
 	microsec  uint64 "field 1";
 	serverIP6 uint64 "field 2";
 	process   string "field 3";
 }
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Pointer_types">Pointer types</h3>

 <p>
 A pointer type denotes the set of all pointers to variables of a given
 type, called the <i>base type</i> of the pointer.
 A pointer value may be <code>nil</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 PointerType = "*" BaseType .
 BaseType = Type .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 *int
 *map[string] *chan int
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Function_types">Function types</h3>

 <p>
 A function type denotes the set of all functions with the same parameter
 and result types.
 A function value may be <code>nil</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 FunctionType   = "func" Signature .
 Signature      = Parameters [ Result ] .
 Result         = Parameters | Type .
 Parameters     = "(" [ ParameterList ] ")" .
 ParameterList  = ParameterDecl { "," ParameterDecl } .
 ParameterDecl  = [ IdentifierList ] ( Type | "..." ) .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Within a list of parameters or results, the names (IdentifierList)
 must either all be present or all be absent. If present, each name
 stands for one item (parameter or result) of the specified type; if absent, each
 type stands for one item of that type.  Parameter and result
 lists are always parenthesized except that if there is exactly
 one unnamed result that is not a function type it may writen as an unparenthesized type.
 </p>
 <p>
 For the last parameter only, instead of a type one may write
 <code>...</code> to indicate that the function may be invoked with
 zero or more additional arguments of any
 type.
 </p>

 <pre>
 func ()
 func (x int)
 func () int
 func (string, float, ...)
 func (a, b int, z float) bool
 func (a, b int, z float) (bool)
 func (a, b int, z float, opt ...) (success bool)
 func (int, int, float) (float, *[]int)
 func (n int) (func (p* T))
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Interface_types">Interface types</h3>

 <p>
 An interface type specifies a <a href="#Types">method set</a> called its <i>interface</i>.
 A variable of interface type can store a value of any type with a method set
 that is any superset of the interface. Such a type is said to
 <i>implement the interface</i>. An interface value may be <code>nil</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 InterfaceType      = "interface" "{" [ MethodSpecList ] "}" .
 MethodSpecList     = MethodSpec { ";" MethodSpec } [ ";" ] .
 MethodSpec         = MethodName Signature | InterfaceTypeName .
 MethodName         = identifier .
 InterfaceTypeName  = TypeName .
 </pre>

 <p>
 As with all method sets, in an interface type, each method must have a unique name.
 </p>

 <pre>
 // A simple File interface
 interface {
 	Read(b Buffer) bool;
 	Write(b Buffer) bool;
 	Close();
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 More than one type may implement an interface.
 For instance, if two types <code>S1</code> and <code>S2</code>
 have the method set
 </p>

 <pre>
 func (p T) Read(b Buffer) bool { return ... }
 func (p T) Write(b Buffer) bool { return ... }
 func (p T) Close() { ... }
 </pre>

 <p>
 (where <code>T</code> stands for either <code>S1</code> or <code>S2</code>)
 then the <code>File</code> interface is implemented by both <code>S1</code> and
 <code>S2</code>, regardless of what other methods
 <code>S1</code> and <code>S2</code> may have or share.
 </p>

 <p>
 A type implements any interface comprising any subset of its methods
 and may therefore implement several distinct interfaces. For
 instance, all types implement the <i>empty interface</i>:
 </p>

 <pre>
 interface{}
 </pre>

 <p>
 Similarly, consider this interface specification,
 which appears within a <a href="#Type_declarations">type declaration</a>
 to define an interface called <code>Lock</code>:
 </p>

 <pre>
 type Lock interface {
 	Lock();
 	Unlock();
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 If <code>S1</code> and <code>S2</code> also implement
 </p>

 <pre>
 func (p T) Lock() { ... }
 func (p T) Unlock() { ... }
 </pre>

 <p>
 they implement the <code>Lock</code> interface as well
 as the <code>File</code> interface.
 </p>
 <p>
 An interface may contain an interface type name <code>T</code>
 in place of a method specification.
 The effect is equivalent to enumerating the methods of <code>T</code> explicitly
 in the interface.
 </p>

 <pre>
 type ReadWrite interface {
 	Read(b Buffer) bool;
 	Write(b Buffer) bool;
 }

 type File interface {
 	ReadWrite;  // same as enumerating the methods in ReadWrite
 	Lock;       // same as enumerating the methods in Lock
 	Close();
 }
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Map_types">Map types</h3>

 <p>
 A map is an unordered group of elements of one type, called the
 value type, indexed by a set of unique <i>keys</i> of another type,
 called the key type.
 A map value may be <code>nil</code>.

 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 MapType     = "map" "[" KeyType "]" ElementType .
 KeyType     = Type .
 ValueType   = Type .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The comparison operators <code>==</code> and <code>!=</code>
 (§<a href="#Comparison_operators">Comparison operators</a>) must be fully defined for operands of the
 key type; thus the key type must be a boolean, numeric, string, pointer, function, interface,
 map, or channel type. If the key type is an interface type, these
 comparison operators must be defined for the dynamic key values;
 failure will cause a run-time error.

 </p>

 <pre>
 map [string] int
 map [*T] struct { x, y float }
 map [string] interface {}
 </pre>

 <p>
 The number of elements is called the length and is never negative.
 The length of a map <code>m</code> can be discovered using the
 built-in function <code>len(m)</code> and may change during execution.
 Values may be added and removed
 during execution using special forms of <a href="#Assignments">assignment</a>.
 </p>
 <p>
 The value of an uninitialized map is <code>nil</code>.
 A new, empty map value is made using the built-in
 function <code>make</code>, which takes the map type and an optional
 capacity hint as arguments:
 </p>

 <pre>
 make(map[string] int)
 make(map[string] int, 100)
 </pre>

 <p>
 The initial capacity does not bound its size:
 maps grow to accommodate the number of items
 stored in them.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Channel_types">Channel types</h3>

 <p>
 A channel provides a mechanism for two concurrently executing functions
 to synchronize execution and communicate by passing a value of a
 specified element type.
 A value of channel type may be <code>nil</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ChannelType   = Channel | SendChannel | RecvChannel .
 Channel       = "chan" ValueType .
 SendChannel   = "chan" "&lt;-" ValueType .
 RecvChannel   = "&lt;-" "chan" ValueType .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Upon creation, a channel can be used both to send and to receive values.
 By conversion or assignment, a channel may be constrained only to send or
 to receive. This constraint is called a channel's <i>direction</i>; either
 <i>send</i>, <i>receive</i>, or <i>bi-directional</i> (unconstrained).
 </p>

 <pre>
 chan T         // can be used to send and receive values of type T
 chan&lt;- float   // can only be used to send floats
 &lt;-chan int     // can only be used to receive ints
 </pre>

 <p>
 The value of an uninitialized channel is <code>nil</code>. A new, initialized channel
 value is made using the built-in function <code>make</code>,
 which takes the channel type and an optional capacity as arguments:
 </p>


 <pre>
 make(chan int, 100)
 </pre>

 <p>
 The capacity, in number of elements, sets the size of the buffer in the channel. If the
 capacity is greater than zero, the channel is asynchronous: provided the
 buffer is not full, sends can succeed without blocking. If the capacity is zero
 or absent, the communication succeeds only when both a sender and receiver are ready.
 </p>

 <p>
 A channel may be closed and tested for closure with the built-in functions
 <a href="#Close_and_closed"><code>close</code> and <code>closed</code></a>.
 </p>

 <h2 id="Properties_of_types_and_values">Properties of types and values</h2>

 <p>
 Two types are either <i>identical</i> or <i>different</i>, and they are
 either <i>compatible</i> or <i>incompatible</i>.
 Identical types are always compatible, but compatible types need not be identical.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Type_identity_and_compatibility">Type identity and compatibility</h3>

 <h4 id="Type_identity">Type identity</h4>

 <p>
 Two named types are identical if their type names originate in the same
 type declaration (§<a href="#Declarations_and_scope">Declarations and scope</a>). A named and an unnamed type
 are never identical. Two unnamed types are identical if the corresponding
 type literals have the same literal structure and corresponding components have
 identical types. In detail:
 </p>

 <ul>
 	<li>Two array types are identical if they have identical element types and
 	    the same array length.</li>

 	<li>Two slice types are identical if they have identical element types.</li>

 	<li>Two struct types are identical if they have the same sequence of fields,
 	    and if corresponding fields have the same names and identical types.
 	    Two anonymous fields are considered to have the same name.</li>

 	<li>Two pointer types are identical if they have identical base types.</li>

 	<li>Two function types are identical if they have the same number of parameters
 	    and result values and if corresponding parameter and result types are
 	    identical. All "..." parameters are defined to have identical type.
 	    Parameter and result names are not required to match.</li>

 	<li>Two interface types are identical if they have the same set of methods
 	    with the same names and identical function types. The order
 	    of the methods is irrelevant.</li>

 	<li>Two map types are identical if they have identical key and value types.</li>

 	<li>Two channel types are identical if they have identical value types and
 	    the same direction.</li>
 </ul>

 <h4 id="Type_compatibility">Type compatibility</h4>

 <p>
 Type compatibility is less stringent than type identity: a named and an unnamed
 type are compatible if the respective type literals are compatible.
 In all other respects, the definition of type compatibility is the
 same as for type identity listed above but with ``compatible''
 substituted for ``identical''.
 </p>

 <p>
 Given the declarations
 </p>

 <pre>
 type (
 	T0 []string;
 	T1 []string;
 	T2 struct { a, b int };
 	T3 struct { a, c int };
 	T4 func (int, float) *T0;
 	T5 func (x int, y float) *[]string;
 )
 </pre>

 <p>
 these types are identical:
 </p>

 <pre>
 T0 and T0
 []int and []int
 struct { a, b *T5 } and struct { a, b *T5 }
 func (x int, y float) *[]string and func (int, float) (result *[]string)
 </pre>

 <p>
 <code>T0</code> and <code>T1</code> are neither identical nor compatible
 because they are named types with distinct declarations.
 </p>

 <p>
 These types are compatible:
 </p>

 <pre>
 T0 and T0
 T0 and []string
 T3 and struct { a int; c int }
 T4 and func (x int, y float) *[]string
 </pre>

 <p>
 <code>T2</code> and <code>struct { a, c int }</code> are incompatible because
 they have different field names.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Assignment_compatibility">Assignment compatibility</h3>

 <p>
 A value <code>v</code> of static type <code>V</code> is <i>assignment compatible</i>
 with a type <code>T</code> if one of the following conditions applies:
 </p>

 <ul>
 <li>
 <code>V</code> is compatible with <code>T</code>.
 </li>
 <li>
 <code>T</code> is an interface type and
 <code>V</code> <a href="#Interface_types">implements</a> <code>T</code>.
 </li>
 <li>
 <code>V</code> is a pointer to an array and <code>T</code> is a slice type
 with compatible element type and at least one of <code>V</code> or <code>T</code> is unnamed.
 After assignment, the slice variable refers to the original array; the elements are not
 copied.
 </li>
 <li>
 <code>V</code> is a bidirectional channel and <code>T</code> is a channel type
 with compatible element type and at least one of <code>V</code> or <code>T</code> is unnamed.
 </li>
 </ul>

 <p>
 If <code>T</code> is a struct type, either all fields of <code>T</code>
 must be <a href="#Exported_identifiers">exported</a>, or the assignment must be in
 the same package in which <code>T</code> is declared.
 In other words, a struct value can be assigned to a struct variable only if
 every field of the struct may be legally assigned individually by the program.
 </p>

 <p>
 An untyped <a href="#Constants">constant</a> <code>v</code>
 is assignment compatible with type <code>T</code> if <code>v</code>
 can be represented accurately as a value of type <code>T</code>.
 </p>

 <p>
 The predeclared identifier <code>nil</code> is assignment compatible with any
 pointer, function, slice, map, channel, or interface type and
 represents the <a href="#The_zero_value">zero value</a> for that type.
 </p>

 <p>
 Any value may be assigned to the <a href="#Blank_identifier">blank identifier</a>.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Comparison_compatibility">Comparison compatibility</h3>

 <p>
 Except as noted, values of any type may be compared to other values of
 <a href="#Type_compatibility">compatible static type</a>.
 Values of numeric and string type may be compared using the
 full range of <a href="#Comparison_operators;">comparison operators</a>;
 booleans may be compared only for equality or inequality.
 </p>

 <p>
 Values of composite type may be
 compared for equality or inequality using the <code>==</code> and
 <code>!=</code> operators, with the following provisos:
 </p>
 <ul>
 <li>
 Arrays and structs may not be compared to anything.
 </li>
 <li>
 A slice value may only be compared explicitly against <code>nil</code>.
 A slice value is equal to <code>nil</code> if it has been assigned the explicit
 value <code>nil</code>, if it is uninitialized, or if it has
 been assigned another slice value equal to <code>nil</code>·
 </li>
 <li>
 Similarly, an interface value is equal to <code>nil</code> if it has
 been assigned the explicit value <code>nil</code>, if it is uninitialized,
 or if it has been assigned another interface value equal to <code>nil</code>.
 </li>
 <li>
 For types that can be compared to <code>nil</code>,
 two values of the same type are equal if they both equal <code>nil</code>,
 unequal if one equals <code>nil</code> and one does not.
 </li>
 <li>
 Pointer values are equal if they point to the same location.
 </li>
 <li>
 Function values are equal if they refer to the same function.
 </li>
 <li>
 Channel and map values are equal if they were created by the same call to <code>make</code>
 (§<a href="#Making_slices">Making slices</a>, maps, and channels).
 When comparing two values of channel type, the channel value types
 must be compatible but the channel direction is ignored.
 </li>
 <li>
 Interface values may be compared if they have compatible static types.
 They will be equal only if they have the same dynamic type and the underlying values are equal.
 </li>
 </ul>

 <h2 id="Blocks">Blocks</h2>

 <p>
 A <i>block</i> is a sequence of declarations and statements within matching
 brace brackets.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Block = "{" StatementList "}" .
 </pre>

 <p>
 In addition to explicit blocks in the source code, there are implicit blocks:
 </p>

 <ol>
 	<li>The <i>universe block</i> encompasses all Go source text.</li>

 	<li>Each <a href="#Packages">package</a> has a <i>package block</i> containing all
 	    Go source text for that package.</li>

 	<li>Each file has a <i>file block</i> containing all Go source text
 	    in that file.</li>

 	<li>Each <code>if</code>, <code>for</code>, and <code>switch</code>
 	    statement is considered to be in its own implicit block.</li>

 	<li>Each clause in a <code>switch</code> or <code>select</code> statement
 	    acts as an implicit block.</li>
 </ol>

 <p>
 Blocks nest and influence <a href="#Declarations_and_scope">scoping</a>.
 </p>


 <h2 id="Declarations_and_scope">Declarations and scope</h2>

 <p>
 A declaration binds a non-<a href="#Blank_identifier">blank</a>
 identifier to a constant, type, variable, function, or package.
 Every identifier in a program must be declared.
 No identifier may be declared twice in the same block, and
 no identifier may be declared in both the file and package block.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Declaration   = ConstDecl | TypeDecl | VarDecl .
 TopLevelDecl  = Declaration | FunctionDecl | MethodDecl .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The <i>scope</i> of a declared identifier is the extent of source text in which
 the identifier denotes the specified constant, type, variable, function, or package.
 </p>

 <p>
 Go is lexically scoped using blocks:
 </p>

 <ol>
 	<li>The scope of a predeclared identifier is the universe block.</li>

 	<li>The scope of an identifier denoting a constant, type, variable,
 	    or function declared at top level (outside any function) is the
 	    package block.</li>

 	<li>The scope of an imported package identifier is the file block
 	    of the file containing the import declaration.</li>

 	<li>The scope of an identifier denoting a function parameter or
 	    result variable is the function body.</li>

 	<li>The scope of a constant or variable identifier declared
 	    inside a function begins at the end of the ConstSpec or VarSpec
 	    and ends at the end of the innermost containing block.</li>

 	<li>The scope of a type identifier declared inside a function
 	    begins at the identifier in the TypeSpec
 	    and ends at the end of the innermost containing block.</li>
 </ol>

 <p>
 An identifier declared in a block may be redeclared in an inner block.
 While the identifier of the inner declaration is in scope, it denotes
 the entity declared by the inner declaration.
 </p>

 <p>
 The <a href="#Package_clause">package clause</a> is not a declaration; the package name
 does not appear in any scope. Its purpose is to identify the files belonging
 to the same <a href="#Packages">package</a> and to specify the default package name for import
 declarations.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Label_scopes">Label scopes</h3>

 <p>
 Labels are declared by <a href="#Labeled_statements">labeled statements</a> and are
 used in the <code>break</code>, <code>continue</code>, and <code>goto</code>
 statements (§<a href="#Break_statements">Break statements</a>, §<a href="#Continue_statements">Continue statements</a>, §<a href="#Goto_statements">Goto statements</a>).
 In contrast to other identifiers, labels are not block scoped and do
 not conflict with identifiers that are not labels. The scope of a label
 is the body of the function in which it is declared and excludes
 the body of any nested function.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Predeclared_identifiers">Predeclared identifiers</h3>

 <p>
 The following identifiers are implicitly declared in the universe block:
 </p>
 <pre class="grammar">
 Basic types:
 	bool byte float32 float64 int8 int16 int32 int64
 	string uint8 uint16 uint32 uint64

 Architecture-specific convenience types:
 	float int uint uintptr

 Constants:
 	true false iota

 Zero value:
 	nil

 Functions:
 	cap close closed len make new panic panicln print println
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Exported_identifiers">Exported identifiers</h3>

 <p>
 An identifier may be <i>exported</i> to permit access to it from another package
 using a <a href="#Qualified_identifiers">qualified identifier</a>. An identifier
 is exported if both:
 </p>
 <ol>
 	<li>the first character of the identifier's name is a Unicode upper case letter (Unicode class "Lu"); and
 	<li>the identifier is declared in the <a href="#Blocks">package block</a> or denotes a field or method of a type
 	    declared in that block.
 </ol>
 <p>
 All other identifiers are not exported.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Blank_identifier">Blank identifier</h3>

 <p>
 The <i>blank identifier</i>, represented by the underscore character <code>_</code>, may be used in a declaration like
 any other identifier but the declaration does not introduce a new binding.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Constant_declarations">Constant declarations</h3>

 <p>
 A constant declaration binds a list of identifiers (the names of
 the constants) to the values of a list of <a href="#Constant_expressions">constant expressions</a>.
 The number of identifiers must be equal
 to the number of expressions, and the <i>n</i>th identifier on
 the left is bound to the value of the <i>n</i>th expression on the
 right.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ConstDecl      = "const" ( ConstSpec | "(" [ ConstSpecList ] ")" ) .
 ConstSpecList  = ConstSpec { ";" ConstSpec } [ ";" ] .
 ConstSpec      = IdentifierList [ [ Type ] "=" ExpressionList ] .

 IdentifierList = identifier { "," identifier } .
 ExpressionList = Expression { "," Expression } .
 </pre>

 <p>
 If the type is present, all constants take the type specified, and
 the expressions must be <a href="#Assignment_compatibility">assignment compatible</a> with that type.
 If the type is omitted, the constants take the
 individual types of the corresponding expressions.
 If the expression values are untyped <a href="#Constants">constants</a>,
 the declared constants remain untyped and the constant identifiers
 denote the constant values. For instance, if the expression is a
 floating-point literal, the constant identifier denotes a floating-point
 constant, even if the literal's fractional part is zero.
 </p>

 <pre>
 const Pi float64 = 3.14159265358979323846
 const zero = 0.0             // untyped floating-point constant
 const (
 	size int64 = 1024;
 	eof = -1;            // untyped integer constant
 )
 const a, b, c = 3, 4, "foo"  // a = 3, b = 4, c = "foo", untyped integer and string constants
 const u, v float = 0, 3      // u = 0.0, v = 3.0
 </pre>

 <p>
 Within a parenthesized <code>const</code> declaration list the
 expression list may be omitted from any but the first declaration.
 Such an empty list is equivalent to the textual substitution of the
 first preceding non-empty expression list and its type if any.
 Omitting the list of expressions is therefore equivalent to
 repeating the previous list.  The number of identifiers must be equal
 to the number of expressions in the previous list.
 Together with the <a href="#Iota"><code>iota</code> constant generator</a>
 this mechanism permits light-weight declaration of sequential values:
 </p>

 <pre>
 const (
 	Sunday = iota;
 	Monday;
 	Tuesday;
 	Wednesday;
 	Thursday;
 	Friday;
 	Partyday;
 	numberOfDays;  // this constant is not exported
 )
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Iota">Iota</h3>

 <p>
 Within a constant declaration, the predeclared pseudo-constant
 <code>iota</code> represents successive untyped integer <a href="#Constants">
 constants</a>. It is reset to 0 whenever the reserved word <code>const</code>
 appears in the source and increments with each semicolon. It can be used to construct a
 set of related constants:
 </p>

 <pre>
 const (  // iota is reset to 0
 	c0 = iota;  // c0 == 0
 	c1 = iota;  // c1 == 1
 	c2 = iota   // c2 == 2
 )

 const (
 	a = 1 &lt;&lt; iota;  // a == 1 (iota has been reset)
 	b = 1 &lt;&lt; iota;  // b == 2
 	c = 1 &lt;&lt; iota;  // c == 4
 )

 const (
 	u       = iota * 42;  // u == 0     (untyped integer constant)
 	v float = iota * 42;  // v == 42.0  (float constant)
 	w       = iota * 42;  // w == 84    (untyped integer constant)
 )

 const x = iota;  // x == 0 (iota has been reset)
 const y = iota;  // y == 0 (iota has been reset)
 </pre>

 <p>
 Within an ExpressionList, the value of each <code>iota</code> is the same because
 it is only incremented at a semicolon:
 </p>

 <pre>
 const (
 	bit0, mask0 = 1 &lt;&lt; iota, 1 &lt;&lt; iota - 1;  // bit0 == 1, mask0 == 0
 	bit1, mask1;                             // bit1 == 2, mask1 == 1
 	_, _;                                    // skips iota == 2
 	bit3, mask3;                             // bit3 == 8, mask3 == 7
 )
 </pre>

 <p>
 This last example exploits the implicit repetition of the
 last non-empty expression list.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Type_declarations">Type declarations</h3>

 <p>
 A type declaration binds an identifier, the <i>type name</i>, to a new type
 that has the same definition (element, fields, channel direction, etc.) as
 an existing type.  The new type is
 <a href="#Properties_of_types_and_values">compatible</a> with, but
 <a href="#Properties_of_types_and_values">different</a> from, the existing type.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 TypeDecl     = "type" ( TypeSpec | "(" [ TypeSpecList ] ")" ) .
 TypeSpecList = TypeSpec { ";" TypeSpec } [ ";" ] .
 TypeSpec     = identifier Type .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 type IntArray [16]int

 type (
 	Point struct { x, y float };
 	Polar Point
 )

 type TreeNode struct {
 	left, right *TreeNode;
 	value *Comparable;
 }

 type Cipher interface {
 	BlockSize() int;
 	Encrypt(src, dst []byte);
 	Decrypt(src, dst []byte);
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 The declared type does not inherit any <a href="#Method_declarations">methods</a>
 bound to the existing type, but the <a href="#Types">method set</a>
 of elements of a composite type is not changed:
 </p>

 <pre>
 // A Mutex is a data type with two methods Lock and Unlock.
 type Mutex struct         { /* Mutex fields */ }
 func (m *Mutex) Lock()    { /* Lock implementation */ }
 func (m *Mutex) Unlock()  { /* Unlock implementation */ }

 // NewMutex has the same composition as Mutex but its method set is empty.
 type NewMutex Mutex

 // PrintableMutex has no methods bound to it, but the method set contains
 // the methods Lock and Unlock bound to its anonymous field Mutex.
 type PrintableMutex struct {
 	Mutex;
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 A type declaration may be used to define a different boolean, numeric, or string
 type and attach methods to it:
 </p>

 <pre>
 type TimeZone int

 const (
 	EST TimeZone = -(5 + iota);
 	CST;
 	MST;
 	PST;
 )

 func (tz TimeZone) String() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("GMT+%dh", tz);
 }
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Variable_declarations">Variable declarations</h3>

 <p>
 A variable declaration creates a variable, binds an identifier to it and
 gives it a type and optionally an initial value.
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 VarDecl     = "var" ( VarSpec | "(" [ VarSpecList ] ")" ) .
 VarSpecList = VarSpec { ";" VarSpec } [ ";" ] .
 VarSpec     = IdentifierList ( Type [ "=" ExpressionList ] | "=" ExpressionList ) .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 var i int
 var U, V, W float
 var k = 0
 var x, y float = -1, -2
 var (
 	i int;
 	u, v, s = 2.0, 3.0, "bar"
 )
 var re, im = complexSqrt(-1)
 var _, found = entries[name];  // map lookup; only interested in "found"
 </pre>

 <p>
 If a list of expressions is given, the variables are initialized
 by assigning the expressions to the variables (§<a href="#Assignments">Assignments</a>)
 in order; all expressions must be consumed and all variables initialized from them.
 Otherwise, each variable is initialized to its <a href="#The_zero_value"><i>zero value</i></a>.
 </p>

 <p>
 If the type is present, each variable is given that type.
 Otherwise, the types are deduced from the assignment
 of the expression list.
 </p>

 <p>
 If the type is absent and the corresponding expression evaluates to an
 untyped <a href="#Constants">constant</a>, the type of the declared variable
 is <code>bool</code>, <code>int</code>, <code>float</code>, or <code>string</code>
 respectively, depending on whether the value is a boolean, integer,
 floating-point, or string constant:
 </p>

 <pre>
 var b = true    // t has type bool
 var i = 0       // i has type int
 var f = 3.0     // f has type float
 var s = "OMDB"  // s has type string
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Short_variable_declarations">Short variable declarations</h3>

 <p>
 A <i>short variable declaration</i> uses the syntax:
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ShortVarDecl = IdentifierList ":=" ExpressionList .
 </pre>

 <p>
 It is a shorthand for a regular variable declaration with
 initializer expressions but no types:
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 "var" IdentifierList = ExpressionList .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 i, j := 0, 10;
 f := func() int { return 7; }
 ch := make(chan int);
 r, w := os.Pipe(fd);  // os.Pipe() returns two values
 _, y, _ := coord(p);  // coord() returns three values; only interested in y coordinate
 </pre>

 <p>
 Unlike regular variable declarations, a short variable declaration may redeclare variables provided they
 were originally declared in the same block with the same type, and at
 least one of the non-<a href="#Blank_identifier">blank</a> variables is new.  As a consequence, redeclaration
 can only appear in a multi-variable short declaration.
 Redeclaration does not introduce a new
 variable; it just assigns a new value to the original.
 </p>

 <pre>
 field1, offset := nextField(str, 0);
 field2, offset := nextField(str, offset);  // redeclares offset
 </pre>

 <p>
 Short variable declarations may appear only inside functions.
 In some contexts such as the initializers for <code>if</code>,
 <code>for</code>, or <code>switch</code> statements,
 they can be used to declare local temporary variables (§<a href="#Statements">Statements</a>).
 </p>

 <h3 id="Function_declarations">Function declarations</h3>

 <p>
 A function declaration binds an identifier to a function (§<a href="#Function_types">Function types</a>).
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 FunctionDecl = "func" identifier Signature [ Body ] .
 Body         = Block.
 </pre>

 <p>
 A function declaration may omit the body. Such a declaration provides the
 signature for a function implemented outside Go, such as an assembly routine.
 </p>

 <pre>
 func min(x int, y int) int {
 	if x &lt; y {
 		return x;
 	}
 	return y;
 }

 func flushICache(begin, end uintptr)  // implemented externally
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Method_declarations">Method declarations</h3>

 <p>
 A method declaration binds an identifier to a method,
 which is a function with a <i>receiver</i>.
 </p>
 <pre class="ebnf">
 MethodDecl = "func" Receiver MethodName Signature [ Body ] .
 Receiver = "(" [ identifier ] [ "*" ] BaseTypeName ")" .
 BaseTypeName = identifier .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The receiver type must be of the form <code>T</code> or <code>*T</code> where
 <code>T</code> is a type name. <code>T</code> is called the
 <i>receiver base type</i> or just <i>base type</i>.
 The base type must not be a pointer or interface type and must be
 declared in the same package as the method.
 The method is said to be <i>bound</i> to the base type
 and is visible only within selectors for that type
 (§<a href="#Type_declarations">Type declarations</a>, §<a href="#Selectors">Selectors</a>).
 </p>

 <p>
 Given type <code>Point</code>, the declarations
 </p>

 <pre>
 func (p *Point) Length() float {
 	return Math.sqrt(p.x * p.x + p.y * p.y);
 }

 func (p *Point) Scale(factor float) {
 	p.x = p.x * factor;
 	p.y = p.y * factor;
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 bind the methods <code>Length</code> and <code>Scale</code>,
 with receiver type <code>*Point</code>,
 to the base type <code>Point</code>.
 </p>

 <p>
 If the receiver's value is not referenced inside the the body of the method,
 its identifier may be omitted in the declaration. The same applies in
 general to parameters of functions and methods.
 </p>

 <p>
 The type of a method is the type of a function with the receiver as first
 argument.  For instance, the method <code>Scale</code> has type
 </p>

 <pre>
 (p *Point, factor float)
 </pre>

 <p>
 However, a function declared this way is not a method.
 </p>


 <h2 id="Expressions">Expressions</h2>

 <p>
 An expression specifies the computation of a value by applying
 operators and functions to operands.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Operands">Operands</h3>

 <p>
 Operands denote the elementary values in an expression.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Operand    = Literal | QualifiedIdent | MethodExpr | "(" Expression ")" .
 Literal    = BasicLit | CompositeLit | FunctionLit .
 BasicLit   = int_lit | float_lit | char_lit | StringLit .
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Qualified_identifiers">Qualified identifiers</h3>

 <p>
 A qualified identifier is a non-<a href="#Blank_identifier">blank</a> identifier qualified by a package name prefix.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 QualifiedIdent = [ PackageName "." ] identifier .
 </pre>

 <p>
 A qualified identifier accesses an identifier in a separate package.
 The identifier must be <a href="#Exported_identifiers">exported</a> by that
 package, which means that it must begin with a Unicode upper case letter.
 </p>

 <pre>
 math.Sin
 </pre>

 <p>
 <span class="alert">TODO: Unify this section with Selectors - it's the same syntax.</span>
 </p>

 <h3 id="Composite_literals">Composite literals</h3>

 <p>
 Composite literals construct values for structs, arrays, slices, and maps
 and create a new value each time they are evaluated.
 They consist of the type of the value
 followed by a brace-bound list of composite elements. An element may be
 a single expression or a key-value pair.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 CompositeLit  = LiteralType "{" [ ElementList ] "}" .
 LiteralType   = StructType | ArrayType | "[" "..." "]" ElementType |
                 SliceType | MapType | TypeName | "(" LiteralType ")" .
 ElementList   = Element { "," Element } [ "," ] .
 Element       = [ Key ":" ] Value .
 Key           = FieldName | Index .
 FieldName     = identifier .
 Value         = Expression .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The LiteralType must be a struct, array, slice, or map type
 (the grammar enforces this constraint except when the type is given
 as a TypeName).
 The types of the expressions must be <a href="#Assignment_compatibility">assignment compatible</a> with
 the respective field, element, and key types of the LiteralType;
 there is no additional conversion.
 The key is interpreted as a field name for struct literals,
 an index expression for array and slice literals, and a key for map literals.
 For map literals, all elements must have a key. It is an error
 to specify multiple elements with the same field name or
 constant key value.
 </p>

 <p>
 For struct literals the following rules apply:
 </p>
 <ul>
 	<li>A literal that does not contain any keys must
 	    list an element for each struct field in the
 	    order in which the fields are declared.
 	</li>
 	<li>If any element has a key, every element must have a key.
 	</li>
 	<li>A literal that contains keys does not need to
 	    have an element for each struct field. Omitted fields
 	    get the zero value for that field.
 	</li>
 	<li>A literal may omit the element list; such a literal evaluates
 		to the zero value for its type.
 	</li>
 	<li>It is an error to specify an element for a non-exported
 	    field of a struct belonging to a different package.
 	</li>
 </ul>

 <p>
 Given the declarations
 </p>
 <pre>
 type Point struct { x, y, z float }
 type Line struct { p, q Point }
 </pre>

 <p>
 one may write
 </p>

 <pre>
 origin := Point{};                            // zero value for Point
 line := Line{origin, Point{y: -4, z: 12.3}};  // zero value for line.q.x
 </pre>

 <p>
 For array and slice literals the following rules apply:
 </p>
 <ul>
 	<li>Each element has an associated integer index marking
 	    its position in the array.
 	</li>
 	<li>An element with a key uses the key as its index; the
 	    key must be a constant integer expression.
 	</li>
 	<li>An element without a key uses the previous element's index plus one.
 	    If the first element has no key, its index is zero.
 	</li>
 </ul>

 <p>
 Taking the address of a composite literal (§<a href="#Address_operators">Address operators</a>)
 generates a unique pointer to an instance of the literal's value.
 </p>
 <pre>
 var pointer *Point = &amp;Point{y: 1000};
 </pre>

 <p>
 The length of an array literal is the length specified in the LiteralType.
 If fewer elements than the length are provided in the literal, the missing
 elements are set to the zero value for the array element type.
 It is an error to provide elements with index values outside the index range
 of the array. The notation <code>...</code> specifies an array length equal
 to the maximum element index plus one.
 </p>

 <pre>
 buffer := [10]string{};               // len(buffer) == 10
 intSet := [6]int{1, 2, 3, 5};         // len(intSet) == 6
 days := [...]string{"Sat", "Sun"};    // len(days) == 2
 </pre>

 <p>
 A slice literal describes the entire underlying array literal.
 Thus, the length and capacity of a slice literal are the maximum
 element index plus one. A slice literal has the form
 </p>

 <pre>
 []T{x1, x2, ... xn}
 </pre>

 <p>
 and is a shortcut for a slice operation applied to an array literal:
 </p>

 <pre>
 [n]T{x1, x2, ... xn}[0 : n]
 </pre>

 <p>
 A parsing ambiguity arises when a composite literal using the
 TypeName form of the LiteralType appears in the condition of an
 "if", "for", or "switch" statement, because the braces surrounding
 the expressions in the literal are confused with those introducing
 a block of statements. To resolve the ambiguity in this rare case,
 the composite literal must appear within
 parentheses.
 </p>

 <pre>
 if x == (T{a,b,c}[i]) { ... }
 if (x == T{a,b,c}[i]) { ... }
 </pre>

 <p>
 Examples of valid array, slice, and map literals:
 </p>

 <pre>
 // list of prime numbers
 primes := []int{2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19, 991};

 // vowels[ch] is true if ch is a vowel
 vowels := [128]bool{'a': true, 'e': true, 'i': true, 'o': true, 'u': true, 'y': true};

 // the array [10]float{-1, 0, 0, 0, -0.1, -0.1, 0, 0, 0, -1};
 filter := [10]float{-1, 4: -0.1, -0.1, 9: -1};

 // frequencies in Hz for equal-tempered scale (A4 = 440Hz)
 noteFrequency := map[string]float{
 	"C0": 16.35, "D0": 18.35, "E0": 20.60, "F0": 21.83,
 	"G0": 24.50, "A0": 27.50, "B0": 30.87,
 }
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Function_literals">Function literals</h3>

 <p>
 A function literal represents an anonymous function.
 It consists of a specification of the function type and a function body.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 FunctionLit = FunctionType Body .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 func (a, b int, z float) bool { return a*b &lt; int(z) }
 </pre>

 <p>
 A function literal can be assigned to a variable or invoked directly.
 </p>

 <pre>
 f := func(x, y int) int { return x + y }
 func(ch chan int) { ch &lt;- ACK } (reply_chan)
 </pre>

 <p>
 Function literals are <i>closures</i>: they may refer to variables
 defined in a surrounding function. Those variables are then shared between
 the surrounding function and the function literal, and they survive as long
 as they are accessible.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Primary_expressions">Primary expressions</h3>

 <p>
 Primary expressions are the operands for unary and binary expressions.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 PrimaryExpr =
 	Operand |
 	Conversion |
 	BuiltinCall |
 	PrimaryExpr Selector |
 	PrimaryExpr Index |
 	PrimaryExpr Slice |
 	PrimaryExpr TypeAssertion |
 	PrimaryExpr Call .

 Selector       = "." identifier .
 Index          = "[" Expression "]" .
 Slice          = "[" Expression ":" Expression "]" .
 TypeAssertion  = "." "(" Type ")" .
 Call           = "(" [ ExpressionList ] ")" .
 </pre>


 <pre>
 x
 2
 (s + ".txt")
 f(3.1415, true)
 Point{1, 2}
 m["foo"]
 s[i : j + 1]
 obj.color
 Math.sin
 f.p[i].x()
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Selectors">Selectors</h3>

 <p>
 A primary expression of the form
 </p>

 <pre>
 x.f
 </pre>

 <p>
 denotes the field or method <code>f</code> of the value denoted by <code>x</code>
 (or of <code>*x</code> if
 <code>x</code> is of pointer type). The identifier <code>f</code>
 is called the (field or method)
 <i>selector</i>; it must not be the <a href="#Blank_identifier">blank identifier</a>.
 The type of the expression is the type of <code>f</code>.
 </p>
 <p>
 A selector <code>f</code> may denote a field or method <code>f</code> of
 a type <code>T</code>, or it may refer
 to a field or method <code>f</code> of a nested anonymous field of
 <code>T</code>.
 The number of anonymous fields traversed
 to reach <code>f</code> is called its <i>depth</i> in <code>T</code>.
 The depth of a field or method <code>f</code>
 declared in <code>T</code> is zero.
 The depth of a field or method <code>f</code> declared in
 an anonymous field <code>A</code> in <code>T</code> is the
 depth of <code>f</code> in <code>A</code> plus one.
 </p>
 <p>
 The following rules apply to selectors:
 </p>
 <ol>
 <li>
 For a value <code>x</code> of type <code>T</code> or <code>*T</code>
 where <code>T</code> is not an interface type,
 <code>x.f</code> denotes the field or method at the shallowest depth
 in <code>T</code> where there
 is such an <code>f</code>.
 If there is not exactly one <code>f</code> with shallowest depth, the selector
 expression is illegal.
 </li>
 <li>
 For a variable <code>x</code> of type <code>I</code> or <code>*I</code>
 where <code>I</code> is an interface type,
 <code>x.f</code> denotes the actual method with name <code>f</code> of the value assigned
 to <code>x</code> if there is such a method.
 If no value or <code>nil</code> was assigned to <code>x</code>, <code>x.f</code> is illegal.
 </li>
 <li>
 In all other cases, <code>x.f</code> is illegal.
 </ol>
 <p>
 Selectors automatically dereference pointers.
 If <code>x</code> is of pointer type, <code>x.y</code>
 is shorthand for <code>(*x).y</code>; if <code>y</code>
 is also of pointer type, <code>x.y.z</code> is shorthand
 for <code>(*(*x).y).z</code>, and so on.
 If <code>*x</code> is of pointer type, dereferencing
 must be explicit;
 only one level of automatic dereferencing is provided.
 For an <code>x</code> of type <code>T</code> containing an
 anonymous field declared as <code>*A</code>,
 <code>x.f</code> is a shortcut for <code>(*x.A).f</code>.
 </p>
 <p>
 For example, given the declarations:
 </p>

 <pre>
 type T0 struct {
 	x int;
 }

 func (recv *T0) M0()

 type T1 struct {
 	y int;
 }

 func (recv T1) M1()

 type T2 struct {
 	z int;
 	T1;
 	*T0;
 }

 func (recv *T2) M2()

 var p *T2;  // with p != nil and p.T1 != nil
 </pre>

 <p>
 one may write:
 </p>

 <pre>
 p.z         // (*p).z
 p.y         // ((*p).T1).y
 p.x         // (*(*p).T0).x

 p.M2        // (*p).M2
 p.M1        // ((*p).T1).M1
 p.M0        // ((*p).T0).M0
 </pre>


 <span class="alert">
 TODO: Specify what happens to receivers.
 </span>


 <h3 id="Indexes">Indexes</h3>

 <p>
 A primary expression of the form
 </p>

 <pre>
 a[x]
 </pre>

 <p>
 denotes the element of the array, slice, string or map <code>a</code> indexed by <code>x</code>.
 The value <code>x</code> is called the
 <i>index</i> or <i>map key</i>, respectively. The following
 rules apply:
 </p>

 <p>
 For <code>a</code> of type <code>A</code> or <code>*A</code>
 where <code>A</code> is an <a href="#Array_types">array type</a>,
 or for <code>a</code> of type <code>S</code> where <code>S</code> is a <a href="#Slice_types">slice type</a>:
 </p>
 <ul>
 	<li><code>x</code> must be an integer value and <code>0 &lt;= x &lt; len(a)</code>
 	<li><code>a[x]</code> is the array element at index <code>x</code> and the type of
 	  <code>a[x]</code> is the element type of <code>A</code>
 </ul>

 <p>
 For <code>a</code> of type <code>T</code>
 where <code>T</code> is a <a href="#String_types">string type</a>:
 </p>
 <ul>
 	<li><code>x</code> must be an integer value and <code>0 &lt;= x &lt; len(a)</code>
 	<li><code>a[x]</code> is the byte at index <code>x</code> and the type of
 	  <code>a[x]</code> is <code>byte</code>
 	<li><code>a[x]</code> may not be assigned to
 </ul>

 <p>
 For <code>a</code> of type <code>M</code>
 where <code>M</code> is a <a href="#Map_types">map type</a>:
 </p>
 <ul>
 	<li><code>x</code>'s type must be compatible with the key type of <code>M</code>
 	  and the map must contain an entry with key <code>x</code> (but see special forms below)
 	<li><code>a[x]</code> is the map value with key <code>x</code>
 	  and the type of <code>a[x]</code> is the value type of <code>M</code>
 </ul>

 <p>
 Otherwise <code>a[x]</code> is illegal.  If the index or key is out of range evaluating
 an otherwise legal index expression, a run-time exception occurs.
 </p>

 <p>
 However, if an index expression on a map <code>a</code> of type <code>map[K] V</code>
 is used in an assignment or initialization of the form
 </p>

 <pre>
 r, ok = a[x]
 r, ok := a[x]
 var r, ok = a[x]
 </pre>

 <p>
 the result of the index expression is a pair of values with types
 <code>(K, bool)</code>.
 If the key is present in the map,
 the expression returns the pair <code>(a[x], true)</code>;
 otherwise it returns <code>(Z, false)</code> where <code>Z</code> is
 the <a href="#The_zero_value">zero value</a> for <code>V</code>.
 No run-time exception occurs in this case.
 The index expression in this construct thus acts like a function call
 returning a value and a boolean indicating success.  (§<a href="#Assignments">Assignments</a>)
 </p>

 <p>
 Similarly, if an assignment to a map has the special form
 </p>

 <pre>
 a[x] = r, ok
 </pre>

 <p>
 and boolean <code>ok</code> has the value <code>false</code>,
 the entry for key <code>x</code> is deleted from the map; if
 <code>ok</code> is <code>true</code>, the construct acts like
 a regular assignment to an element of the map.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Slices">Slices</h3>

 <p>
 Strings, arrays, and slices can be <i>sliced</i> to construct substrings or descriptors
 of subarrays. The index expressions in the slice select which elements appear
 in the result.  The result has indexes starting at 0 and length equal to the
 difference in the index values in the slice.  After slicing the array <code>a</code>
 </p>

 <pre>
 a := [4]int{1, 2, 3, 4};
 s := a[1:3];
 </pre>

 <p>
 the slice <code>s</code> has type <code>[]int</code>, length 2, capacity 3, and elements
 </p>

 <pre>
 s[0] == 2
 s[1] == 3
 </pre>

 <p>
 The slice length must not be negative.
 For arrays or strings, the indexes
 <code>lo</code> and <code>hi</code> must satisfy
 0 &lt;= <code>lo</code> &lt;= <code>hi</code> &lt;= length;
 for slices, the upper bound is the capacity rather than the length.
 </p>

 <p>
 If the sliced operand is a string or slice, the result of the slice operation
 is a string or slice of the same type.
 If the sliced operand is an array, the result of the slice operation is a slice
 with the same element type as the array.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Type_assertions">Type assertions</h3>

 <p>
 For an expression <code>x</code> and a type <code>T</code>, the primary expression
 </p>

 <pre>
 x.(T)
 </pre>

 <p>
 asserts that <code>x</code> is not the zero interface value
 and that the value stored in <code>x</code> is of type <code>T</code>.
 The notation <code>x.(T)</code> is called a <i>type assertion</i>.
 The type of <code>x</code> must be an interface type.
 </p>
 <p>
 More precisely, if <code>T</code> is not an interface type, <code>x.(T)</code> asserts
 that the dynamic type of <code>x</code> is identical to the type <code>T</code>
 (§<a href="#Type_identity_and_compatibility">Type identity and compatibility</a>).
 If <code>T</code> is an interface type, <code>x.(T)</code> asserts that the dynamic type
 of <code>T</code> implements the interface <code>T</code> (§<a href="#Interface_types">Interface types</a>).
 </p>
 <p>
 If the type assertion holds, the value of the expression is the value
 stored in <code>x</code> and its type is <code>T</code>. If the type assertion is false, a run-time
 exception occurs. In other words, even though the dynamic type of <code>x</code>
 is known only at run-time, the type of <code>x.(T)</code> is
 known to be <code>T</code> in a correct program.
 </p>
 <p>
 If a type assertion is used in an assignment or initialization of the form
 </p>

 <pre>
 v, ok = x.(T)
 v, ok := x.(T)
 var v, ok = x.(T)
 </pre>

 <p>
 the result of the assertion is a pair of values with types <code>(T, bool)</code>.
 If the assertion holds, the expression returns the pair <code>(x.(T), true)</code>;
 otherwise, the expression returns <code>(Z, false)</code> where <code>Z</code>
 is the <a href="#The_zero_value">zero value</a> for type <code>T</code>.
 No run-time exception occurs in this case.
 The type assertion in this construct thus acts like a function call
 returning a value and a boolean indicating success.  (§<a href="#Assignments">Assignments</a>)
 </p>


 <h3 id="Calls">Calls</h3>

 <p>
 Given an expression <code>f</code> of function type
 <code>F</code>,
 </p>

 <pre>
 f(a1, a2, ... an)
 </pre>

 <p>
 calls <code>f</code> with arguments <code>a1, a2, ... an</code>.
 The arguments must be single-valued expressions
 <a href="#Assignment_compatibility">assignment compatible</a> with the parameter types of
 <code>F</code> and are evaluated before the function is called.
 The type of the expression is the result type
 of <code>F</code>.
 A method invocation is similar but the method itself
 is specified as a selector upon a value of the receiver type for
 the method.
 </p>

 <pre>
 Atan2(x, y)    // function call
 var pt *Point;
 pt.Scale(3.5)  // method call with receiver pt
 </pre>

 <p>
 A method call <code>x.m()</code> is valid if the method set of
 (the type of) <code>x</code> contains <code>m</code> and the
 argument list is compatible with the parameter list of <code>m</code>.
 If <code>x</code> is <a href="#Address_operators">addressable</a> and <code>&amp;x</code>'s method
 set contains <code>m</code>, <code>x.m()</code> is shorthand
 for <code>(&amp;x).m()</code>:
 </p>

 <pre>
 var p Point;
 p.Scale(3.5)
 </pre>

 <p>
 There is no distinct method type and there are no method literals.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Passing_arguments_to_..._parameters">Passing arguments to <code>...</code> parameters</h3>

 <p>
 When a function <code>f</code> has a <code>...</code> parameter,
 it is always the last formal parameter. Within calls to <code>f</code>,
 the arguments before the <code>...</code> are treated normally.
 After those, an arbitrary number (including zero) of trailing
 arguments may appear in the call and are bound to the <code>...</code>
 parameter.
 </p>

 <p>
 Within <code>f</code>, the <code>...</code> parameter has static
 type <code>interface{}</code> (the empty interface). For each call,
 its dynamic type is a structure whose sequential fields are the
 trailing arguments of the call.  That is, the actual arguments
 provided for a <code>...</code> parameter are wrapped into a struct
 that is passed to the function instead of the actual arguments.
 Using the <a href="#Package_unsafe">reflection</a> interface, <code>f</code> may
 unpack the elements of the dynamic type to recover the actual
 arguments.
 </p>

 <p>
 Given the function and call
 </p>
 <pre>
 func Fprintf(f io.Writer, format string, args ...)
 Fprintf(os.Stdout, "%s %d", "hello", 23);
 </pre>

 <p>
 Within <code>Fprintf</code>, the dynamic type of <code>args</code> for this
 call will be, schematically,
 <code> struct { string; int }</code>.
 </p>


 <p>
 As a special case, if a function passes its own <code>...</code> parameter as the argument
 for a <code>...</code> in a call to another function with a <code>...</code> parameter,
 the parameter is not wrapped again but passed directly. In short, a formal <code>...</code>
 parameter is passed unchanged as an actual <code>...</code> parameter.

 <h3 id="Operators">Operators</h3>

 <p>
 Operators combine operands into expressions.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Expression = UnaryExpr | Expression binary_op UnaryExpr .
 UnaryExpr  = PrimaryExpr | unary_op UnaryExpr .

 binary_op  = log_op | com_op | rel_op | add_op | mul_op .
 log_op     = "||" | "&amp;&amp;" .
 com_op     = "&lt;-" .
 rel_op     = "==" | "!=" | "&lt;" | "&lt;=" | ">" | ">=" .
 add_op     = "+" | "-" | "|" | "^" .
 mul_op     = "*" | "/" | "%" | "&lt;&lt;" | "&gt;&gt;" | "&amp;" | "&amp;^" .

 unary_op   = "+" | "-" | "!" | "^" | "*" | "&amp;" | "&lt;-" .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Comparisons are discussed <a href="#Comparison_operators">elsewhere</a>.
 For other binary operators, the operand types must be identical
 (§<a href="#Properties_of_types_and_values">Properties of types and values</a>)
 unless the operation involves channels, shifts, or untyped <a href="#Constants">constants</a>.
 For operations involving constants only, see the section on
 <a href="#Constant_expressions">constant expressions</a>.
 </p>

 <p>
 In a channel send, the first operand is always a channel and the
 second is a value of the channel's element type.
 </p>

 <p>
 Except for shift operations,
 if one operand is an untyped <a href="#Constants">constant</a>
 and the other operand is not, the constant is <a href="#Conversions">converted</a>
 to the type of the other operand.
 </p>

 <p>
 The right operand in a shift operation must have unsigned integer type
 or be an untyped constant that can be converted to unsigned integer type.
 </p>

 <p>
 If the left operand of a non-constant shift operation is an untyped constant,
 the type of constant is what it would be if the shift operation were replaced by
 the left operand alone.
 </p>

 <pre>
 var s uint = 33;
 var i = 1&lt;&lt;s;          // 1 has type int
 var j = int32(1&lt;&lt;s);   // 1 has type int32; j == 0
 var u = uint64(1&lt;&lt;s);  // 1 has type uint64; u == 1&lt;&lt;33
 var f = float(1&lt;&lt;s);   // illegal: 1 has type float, cannot shift
 var g = float(1&lt;&lt;33);  // legal; 1&lt;&lt;33 is a constant shift operation; g == 1&lt;&lt;33
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Operator_precedence">Operator precedence</h3>
 <p>
 Unary operators have the highest precedence.
 As the  <code>++</code> and <code>--</code> operators form
 statements, not expressions, they fall
 outside the operator hierarchy.
 As a consequence, statement <code>*p++</code> is the same as <code>(*p)++</code>.
 <p>
 There are six precedence levels for binary operators.
 Multiplication operators bind strongest, followed by addition
 operators, comparison operators, <code>&lt;-</code> (channel send),
 <code>&amp;&amp;</code> (logical and), and finally <code>||</code> (logical or):
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 Precedence    Operator
     6             *  /  %  &lt;&lt;  &gt;&gt;  &amp;  &amp;^
     5             +  -  |  ^
     4             ==  !=  &lt;  &lt;=  >  >=
     3             &lt;-
     2             &amp;&amp;
     1             ||
 </pre>

 <p>
 Binary operators of the same precedence associate from left to right.
 For instance, <code>x / y * z</code> is the same as <code>(x / y) * z</code>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 +x
 23 + 3*x[i]
 x &lt;= f()
 ^a &gt;&gt; b
 f() || g()
 x == y+1 &amp;&amp; &lt;-chan_ptr > 0
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Arithmetic_operators">Arithmetic operators</h3>
 <p>
 Arithmetic operators apply to numeric values and yield a result of the same
 type as the first operand. The four standard arithmetic operators (<code>+</code>,
 <code>-</code>,  <code>*</code>, <code>/</code>) apply to integer and
 floating-point types; <code>+</code> also applies
 to strings. All other arithmetic operators apply to integers only.
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 +    sum                    integers, floats, strings
 -    difference             integers, floats
 *    product                integers, floats
 /    quotient               integers, floats
 %    remainder              integers

 &amp;    bitwise and            integers
 |    bitwise or             integers
 ^    bitwise xor            integers
 &amp;^   bit clear (and not)    integers

 &lt;&lt;   left shift             integer &lt;&lt; unsigned integer
 &gt;&gt;   right shift            integer &gt;&gt; unsigned integer
 </pre>

 <p>
 Strings can be concatenated using the <code>+</code> operator
 or the <code>+=</code> assignment operator:
 </p>

 <pre>
 s := "hi" + string(c);
 s += " and good bye";
 </pre>

 <p>
 String addition creates a new string by concatenating the operands.
 </p>
 <p>
 For integer values, <code>/</code> and <code>%</code> satisfy the following relationship:
 </p>

 <pre>
 (a / b) * b + a % b == a
 </pre>

 <p>
 with <code>(a / b)</code> truncated towards zero.
 Examples:
 </p>

 <pre>
  x     y     x / y     x % y
  5     3       1         2
 -5     3      -1        -2
  5    -3      -1         2
 -5    -3       1        -2
 </pre>

 <p>
 If the dividend is positive and the divisor is a constant power of 2,
 the division may be replaced by a right shift, and computing the remainder may
 be replaced by a bitwise "and" operation:
 </p>

 <pre>
  x     x / 4     x % 4     x &gt;&gt; 2     x &amp; 3
  11      2         3         2          3
 -11     -2        -3        -3          1
 </pre>

 <p>
 The shift operators shift the left operand by the shift count specified by the
 right operand. They implement arithmetic shifts if the left operand is a signed
 integer and logical shifts if it is an unsigned integer. The shift count must
 be an unsigned integer. There is no upper limit on the shift count. Shifts behave
 as if the left operand is shifted <code>n</code> times by 1 for a shift
 count of <code>n</code>.
 As a result, <code>x &lt;&lt; 1</code> is the same as <code>x*2</code>
 and <code>x &gt;&gt; 1</code> is the same as
 <code>x/2</code> truncated towards negative infinity.
 </p>

 <p>
 For integer operands, the unary operators
 <code>+</code>, <code>-</code>, and <code>^</code> are defined as
 follows:
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 +x                          is 0 + x
 -x    negation              is 0 - x
 ^x    bitwise complement    is m ^ x  with m = "all bits set to 1" for unsigned x
                                       and  m = -1 for signed x
 </pre>

 <p>
 For floating-point numbers,
 <code>+x</code> is the same as <code>x</code>,
 while <code>-x</code> is the negation of <code>x</code>.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Integer_overflow">Integer overflow</h3>

 <p>
 For unsigned integer values, the operations <code>+</code>,
 <code>-</code>, <code>*</code>, and <code>&lt;&lt;</code> are
 computed modulo 2<sup><i>n</i></sup>, where <i>n</i> is the bit width of
 the unsigned integer's type
 (§<a href="#Numeric_types">Numeric types</a>). Loosely speaking, these unsigned integer operations
 discard high bits upon overflow, and programs may rely on ``wrap around''.
 </p>
 <p>
 For signed integers, the operations <code>+</code>,
 <code>-</code>, <code>*</code>, and <code>&lt;&lt;</code> may legally
 overflow and the resulting value exists and is deterministically defined
 by the signed integer representation, the operation, and its operands.
 No exception is raised as a result of overflow. A
 compiler may not optimize code under the assumption that overflow does
 not occur. For instance, it may not assume that <code>x &lt; x + 1</code> is always true.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Comparison_operators">Comparison operators</h3>

 <p>
 Comparison operators yield a value of type <code>bool</code>.
 The operators <code>==</code> and <code>!=</code> apply, at least in some cases,
 to operands of all types except arrays and structs.
 All other comparison operators apply only to numeric and string values.
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 ==    equal
 !=    not equal
 <     less
 <=    less or equal
 >     greater
 >=    greater or equal
 </pre>

 <p>
 Operands of numeric type are compared in the usual way.
 </p>
 <p>
 Operands of string type are compared byte-wise (lexically).
 </p>
 <p>
 Operands of boolean type are equal if they are either both <code>true</code>
 or both <code>false</code>.
 </p>
 <p>
 The rules for comparison of composite types are described in the
 section on §<a href="#Comparison_compatibility">Comparison compatibility</a>.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Logical_operators">Logical operators</h3>

 <p>
 Logical operators apply to <a href="#Boolean_types">boolean</a> values
 and yield a result of the same type as the operands.
 The right operand is evaluated conditionally.
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 &amp;&amp;    conditional and    p &amp;&amp; q  is  "if p then q else false"
 ||    conditional or     p || q  is  "if p then true else q"
 !     not                !p      is  "not p"
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Address_operators">Address operators</h3>

 <p>
 The address-of operator <code>&amp;</code> generates the address of its operand,
 which must be <i>addressable</i>,
 that is, either a variable, pointer indirection, array or slice indexing
 operation,
 or a field selector of an addressable struct operand.
 A function result variable is not addressable.
 (<span class="alert">TODO: remove this restriction.</span>)
 Given an operand of pointer type, the pointer indirection
 operator <code>*</code> retrieves the value pointed
 to by the operand.
 </p>

 <pre>
 &amp;x
 &amp;a[f(2)]
 *p
 *pf(x)
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Communication_operators">Communication operators</h3>

 <p>
 The term <i>channel</i> means "value of <a href="#Channel_types">channel type</a>".
 </p>
 <p>
 The send operation uses the binary operator "&lt;-", which operates on
 a channel and a value (expression):
 </p>

 <pre>
 ch &lt;- 3
 </pre>

 <p>
 The send operation sends the value on the channel.  Both the channel
 and the expression are evaluated before communication begins.
 Communication blocks until the send can proceed, at which point the
 value is transmitted on the channel.
 A send on an unbuffered channel can proceed if a receiver is ready.
 A send on a buffered channel can proceed if there is room in the buffer.
 </p>
 <p>
 If the send operation appears in an expression context, the value
 of the expression is a boolean and the operation is non-blocking.
 The value of the boolean reports true if the communication succeeded,
 false if it did not. (The channel and
 the expression to be sent are evaluated regardless.)
 These two examples are equivalent:
 </p>

 <pre>
 ok := ch &lt;- 3;
 if ok { print("sent") } else { print("not sent") }

 if ch &lt;- 3 { print("sent") } else { print("not sent") }
 </pre>

 <p>
 In other words, if the program tests the value of a send operation,
 the send is non-blocking and the value of the expression is the
 success of the operation.  If the program does not test the value,
 the operation blocks until it succeeds.
 </p>
 <p>
 The receive operation uses the prefix unary operator "&lt;-".
 The value of the expression is the value received, whose type
 is the element type of the channel.
 </p>

 <pre>
 &lt;-ch
 </pre>

 <p>
 The expression blocks until a value is available, which then can
 be assigned to a variable or used like any other expression.
 If the receive expression does not save the value, the value is
 discarded.
 </p>

 <pre>
 v1 := &lt;-ch
 v2 = &lt;-ch
 f(&lt;-ch)
 &lt;-strobe  // wait until clock pulse
 </pre>

 <p>
 If a receive expression is used in an assignment or initialization of the form
 </p>

 <pre>
 x, ok = &lt;-ch
 x, ok := &lt;-ch
 var x, ok = &lt;-ch
 </pre>

 <p>
 the receive operation becomes non-blocking.
 If the operation can proceed, the boolean variable
 <code>ok</code> will be set to <code>true</code>
 and the value stored in <code>x</code>; otherwise
 <code>ok</code> is set
 to <code>false</code> and <code>x</code> is set to the
 zero value for its type (§<a href="#The_zero_value">The zero value</a>).
 </p>

 <p>
 <span class="alert">TODO: Probably in a separate section, communication semantics
 need to be presented regarding send, receive, select, and goroutines.</span>
 </p>

 <h3 id="Method_expressions">Method expressions</h3>

 <p>
 If <code>M</code> is in the method set of type <code>T</code>,
 <code>T.M</code> is a function that is callable as a regular function
 with the same arguments as <code>M</code> prefixed by an additional
 argument that is the receiver of the method.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 MethodExpr    = ReceiverType "." MethodName .
 ReceiverType  = TypeName | "(" "*" TypeName ")" .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Consider a struct type <code>T</code> with two methods,
 <code>Mv</code>, whose receiver is of type <code>T</code>, and
 <code>Mp</code>, whose receiver is of type <code>*T</code>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 type T struct {
 	a int;
 }
 func (tv  T) Mv(a int)   int   { return 0 }  // value receiver
 func (tp *T) Mp(f float) float { return 1 }  // pointer receiver
 var t T;
 </pre>

 <p>
 The expression
 </p>

 <pre>
 T.Mv
 </pre>

 <p>
 yields a function equivalent to <code>Mv</code> but
 with an explicit receiver as its first argument; it has signature
 </p>

 <pre>
 func (tv T, a int) int
 </pre>

 <p>
 That function may be called normally with an explicit receiver, so
 these three invocations are equivalent:
 </p>

 <pre>
 t.Mv(7)
 T.Mv(t, 7)
 f := T.Mv; f(t, 7)
 </pre>

 <p>
 Similarly, the expression
 </p>

 <pre>
 (*T).Mp
 </pre>

 <p>
 yields a function value representing <code>Mp</code> with signature
 </p>

 <pre>
 func (tp *T, f float) float
 </pre>

 <p>
 For a method with a value receiver, one can derive a function
 with an explicit pointer receiver, so
 </p>

 <pre>
 (*T).Mv
 </pre>

 <p>
 yields a function value representing <code>Mv</code> with signature
 </p>

 <pre>
 func (tv *T, f int) int
 </pre>

 <p>
 Such a function indirects through the receiver to create a value
 to pass as the receiver to the underlying method;
 the method does not overwrite the value whose address is passed in
 the function call.
 </p>

 <p>
 The final case, a value-receiver function for a pointer-receiver method,
 is illegal because pointer-receiver methods are not in the method set
 of the value type.
 </p>

 <p>
 Function values derived from methods are called with function call syntax;
 the receiver is provided as the first argument to the call.
 That is, given <code>f := T.Mv</code>, <code>f</code> is invoked
 as <code>f(t, 7)</code> not <code>t.f(7)</code>.
 To construct a function that binds the receiver, use a
 <a href="#Function_literals">closure</a>.
 </p>

 <p>
 It is legal to derive a function value from a method of an interface type.
 The resulting function takes an explicit receiver of that interface type.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Conversions">Conversions</h3>

 <p>
 Conversions are expressions of the form <code>T(x)</code>
 where <code>T</code> is a type and <code>x</code> is an expression
 that can be converted to type <code>T</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Conversion = LiteralType "(" Expression ")" .
 </pre>

 <p>
 In general, a conversion succeeds if the value of <code>x</code> is
 <a href="#Assignment_compatibility">assignment compatible</a> with type <code>T</code>,
 or if the value would be assignment compatible with type <code>T</code> if the
 value's type, or <code>T</code>, or any of their component types were unnamed.
 Usually, such a conversion changes the type but not the representation of the value
 of <code>x</code> and thus has no run-time cost.
 </p>

 <p>
 Specific rules apply to conversions where <code>T</code> is a numeric or string type.
 These conversions may change the representation of a value and incur a run-time cost.
 </p>

 <h4>Conversions between integer types</h4>
 <p>
 If the value is a signed quantity, it is
 sign extended to implicit infinite precision; otherwise it is zero
 extended.  It is then truncated to fit in the result type's size.
 For example, if <code>x := uint16(0x10F0)</code>, then <code>uint32(int8(x)) == 0xFFFFFFF0</code>.
 The conversion always yields a valid value; there is no indication of overflow.
 </p>

 <h4>Conversions involving floating point types</h4>
 <ol>
 <li>
 When converting a floating-point number to an integer, the fraction is discarded
 (truncation towards zero).
 </li>
 <li>
 When converting a number to a floating-point type, the result value is rounded
 to the precision specified by the floating point type.
 For instance, the value of a variable <code>x</code> of type <code>float32</code>
 may be stored using additional precision beyond that of an IEEE-754 32-bit number,
 but float32(x) represents the result of rounding <code>x</code>'s value to
 32-bit precision. Similarly, <code>x + 0.1</code> may use more than 32 bits
 of precision, <code>but float32(x + 0.1)</code> does not.
 </li>
 </ol>

 <p>
 In all conversions involving floating-point values, if the result type cannot
 represent the value the conversion succeeds but the result value is
 implementation-dependent.
 </p>

 <h4>Conversions to a string type</h4>
 <ol>
 <li>
 Converting an integer value yields a string containing the UTF-8
 representation of the integer.

 <pre>
 string(0x65e5)  // "\u65e5" == "日" == "\xe6\x97\xa5"
 </pre>
 </li>

 <li>
 Converting a slice of integers yields a string that is the
 concatenation of the individual integers converted to strings.
 If the slice value is <code>nil</code>, the result is the empty string.
 <pre>
 string([]int{0x767d, 0x9d6c, 0x7fd4})  // "\u767d\u9d6c\u7fd4" == "白鵬翔"
 </pre>
 </li>

 <li>
 Converting a slice of bytes yields a string whose successive
 bytes are those of the slice. If the slice value is <code>nil</code>,
 the result is the empty string.

 <pre>
 string([]byte{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o'})  // "hello"
 </pre>
 </li>
 </ol>

 <p>
 There is no linguistic mechanism to convert between pointers and integers.
 The package <a href="#Package_unsafe"><code>unsafe</code></a>
 implements this functionality under
 restricted circumstances.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Constant_expressions">Constant expressions</h3>

 <p>
 Constant expressions may contain only <a href="#Constants">constant</a>
 operands and are evaluated at compile-time.
 </p>

 <p>
 Untyped boolean, numeric, and string constants may be used as operands
 wherever it is legal to use an operand of boolean, numeric, or string type,
 respectively. Except for shift operations, if the operands of a binary operation
 are an untyped integer constant and an untyped floating-point constant,
 the integer constant is converted to an untyped floating-point constant
 (relevant for <code>/</code> and <code>%</code>).
 </p>

 <p>
 Applying an operator to untyped constants results in an untyped
 constant of the same kind (that is, a boolean, integer, floating-point, or
 string constant), except for
 <a href="#Comparison_operators">comparison operators</a> which result in
 a constant of type <code>bool</code>.
 </p>

 <p>
 Constant expressions are always evaluated exactly; intermediate values and the
 constants themselves may require precision significantly larger than supported
 by any predeclared type in the language. The following are legal declarations:
 </p>

 <pre>
 const Huge = 1 &lt;&lt; 100;
 const Four int8 = Huge &gt;&gt; 98;
 </pre>

 <p>
 The values of <i>typed</i> constants must always be accurately representable as values
 of the constant type. The following constant expressions are illegal:
 </p>

 <pre>
 uint(-1)       // -1 overflows uint
 int(3.14)      // 3.14 truncated to integer
 int64(Huge)    // 1&lt;&lt;100 overflows int64
 Four * 300     // 300 overflows int8
 Four * 100     // 400 overflows int8
 </pre>

 <p>
 The mask used by the unary bitwise complement operator <code>^</code> matches
 the rule for non-constants: the mask is all 1s for unsigned constants
 and -1 for signed and untyped constants.
 </p>

 <pre>
 ^1          // untyped integer constant, equal to -2
 uint8(^1)   // error, same as uint8(-2), out of range
 ^uint8(1)   // typed uint8 constant, same as 0xFF ^ uint8(1) = uint8(0xFE)
 int8(^1)    // same as int8(-2)
 ^int8(1)    // same as -1 ^ int8(1) = -2
 </pre>

 <p>
 <span class="alert">
 TODO: perhaps ^ should be disallowed on non-uints instead of assuming twos complement.
 Also it may be possible to make typed constants more like variables, at the cost of fewer
 overflow etc. errors being caught.
 </span>
 </p>


 <h3 id="Order_of_evaluation">Order of evaluation</h3>

 <p>
 When evaluating the elements of an assignment or expression,
 all function calls, method calls and
 communication operations are evaluated in lexical left-to-right
 order.
 </p>

 <p>
 Floating-point operations within a single expression are evaluated according to
 the associativity of the operators.  Explicit parentheses affect the evaluation
 by overriding the default associativity.
 In the expression <code>x + (y + z)</code> the addition <code>y + z</code>
 is performed before adding <code>x</code>.
 </p>

 <p>
 For example, in the assignment
 </p>
 <pre>
 y[f()], ok = g(h(), i() + x[j()], &lt;-c), k()
 </pre>
 <p>
 the function calls and communication happen in the order
 <code>f()</code>, <code>h()</code>, <code>i()</code>, <code>j()</code>,
 <code>&lt;-c</code>, <code>g()</code>, and <code>k()</code>.
 However, the order of those events compared to the evaluation
 and indexing of <code>x</code> and the evaluation
 of <code>y</code> is not specified.
 </p>

 <h2 id="Statements">Statements</h2>

 <p>
 Statements control execution.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Statement =
 	Declaration | LabeledStmt | SimpleStmt |
 	GoStmt | ReturnStmt | BreakStmt | ContinueStmt | GotoStmt |
 	FallthroughStmt | Block | IfStmt | SwitchStmt | SelectStmt | ForStmt |
 	DeferStmt .

 SimpleStmt = EmptyStmt | ExpressionStmt | IncDecStmt | Assignment | ShortVarDecl .

 StatementList = Statement { Separator Statement } .
 Separator     = [ ";" ] .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Elements of a list of statements are separated by semicolons,
 which may be omitted only if the previous statement:
 </p>
 <ul>
 	<li>ends with the closing parenthesis ")" of a list of <a href="#Declarations_and_scope">declarations</a>; or</li>
 	<li>ends with a closing brace "}" that is not part of an expression.
 </ul>


 <h3 id="Empty_statements">Empty statements</h3>

 <p>
 The empty statement does nothing.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 EmptyStmt = .
 </pre>

 <p>
 A statement list can always in effect be terminated with a semicolon by
 adding an empty statement.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Labeled_statements">Labeled statements</h3>

 <p>
 A labeled statement may be the target of a <code>goto</code>,
 <code>break</code> or <code>continue</code> statement.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 LabeledStmt = Label ":" Statement .
 Label       = identifier .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 Error: log.Fatal("error encountered")
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Expression_statements">Expression statements</h3>

 <p>
 Function calls, method calls, and channel operations
 can appear in statement context.
 </p>


 <pre class="ebnf">
 ExpressionStmt = Expression .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 f(x+y)
 &lt;-ch
 </pre>


 <h3 id="IncDec_statements">IncDec statements</h3>

 <p>
 The "++" and "--" statements increment or decrement their operands
 by the untyped <a href="#Constants">constant</a> <code>1</code>.
 As with an assignment, the operand must be a variable, pointer indirection,
 field selector or index expression.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 IncDecStmt = Expression ( "++" | "--" ) .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The following <a href="#Assignments">assignment statements</a> are semantically
 equivalent:
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 IncDec statement    Assignment
 x++                 x += 1
 x--                 x -= 1
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Assignments">Assignments</h3>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 Assignment = ExpressionList assign_op ExpressionList .

 assign_op = [ add_op | mul_op ] "=" .
 </pre>

 <p>
 Each left-hand side operand must be <a href="#Address_operators">addressable</a>,
 a map index expresssion,
 or the <a href="#Blank_identifier">blank identifier</a>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 x = 1
 *p = f()
 a[i] = 23
 k = &lt;-ch
 </pre>

 <p>
 An <i>assignment operation</i> <code>x</code> <i>op</i><code>=</code>
 <code>y</code> where <i>op</i> is a binary arithmetic operation is equivalent
 to <code>x</code> <code>=</code> <code>x</code> <i>op</i>
 <code>y</code> but evalutates <code>x</code>
 only once.  The <i>op</i><code>=</code> construct is a single token.
 In assignment operations, both the left- and right-hand expression lists
 must contain exactly one single-valued expression.
 </p>

 <pre>
 a[i] &lt;&lt;= 2
 i &amp;^= 1&lt;&lt;n
 </pre>

 <p>
 A tuple assignment assigns the individual elements of a multi-valued
 operation to a list of variables.  There are two forms.  In the
 first, the right hand operand is a single multi-valued expression
 such as a function evaluation or <a href="#Channel_types">channel</a> or
 <a href="#Map_types">map</a> operation or a <a href="#Type_assertions">type assertion</a>.
 The number of operands on the left
 hand side must match the number of values.  For instance, if
 <code>f</code> is a function returning two values,
 </p>

 <pre>
 x, y = f()
 </pre>

 <p>
 assigns the first value to <code>x</code> and the second to <code>y</code>.
 The <a href="#Blank_identifier">blank identifier</a> provides a
 way to ignore values returned by a multi-valued expression:
 </p>

 <pre>
 x, _ = f()  // ignore second value returned by f()
 </pre>

 <p>
 In the second form, the number of operands on the left must equal the number
 of expressions on the right, each of which must be single-valued, and the
 <i>n</i>th expression on the right is assigned to the <i>n</i>th
 operand on the left.
 The expressions on the right are evaluated before assigning to
 any of the operands on the left, but otherwise the evaluation
 order is unspecified beyond <a href="#Order_of_evaluation">the usual rules</a>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 a, b = b, a  // exchange a and b
 </pre>

 <p>
 In assignments, each value must be
 <a href="#Assignment_compatibility">assignment compatible</a> with the type of the
 operand to which it is assigned. If an untyped <a href="#Constants">constant</a>
 is assigned to a variable of interface type, the constant is <a href="#Conversions">converted</a>
 to type <code>bool</code>, <code>int</code>, <code>float</code>, or <code>string</code>
 respectively, depending on whether the value is a boolean, integer, floating-point,
 or string constant.
 </p>


 <h3 id="If_statements">If statements</h3>

 <p>
 "If" statements specify the conditional execution of two branches
 according to the value of a boolean expression.  If the expression
 evaluates to true, the "if" branch is executed, otherwise, if
 present, the "else" branch is executed.  A missing condition
 is equivalent to <code>true</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 IfStmt    = "if" [ SimpleStmt ";" ] [ Expression ] Block [ "else" Statement ] .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 if x > 0 {
 	return true;
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 The expression may be preceded by a simple statement, which
 executes before the expression is evaluated.
 </p>

 <pre>
 if x := f(); x < y {
 	return x;
 } else if x > z {
 	return z;
 } else {
 	return y;
 }
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Switch_statements">Switch statements</h3>

 <p>
 "Switch" statements provide multi-way execution.
 An expression or type specifier is compared to the "cases"
 inside the "switch" to determine which branch
 to execute.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 SwitchStmt = ExprSwitchStmt | TypeSwitchStmt .
 </pre>

 <p>
 There are two forms: expression switches and type switches.
 In an expression switch, the cases contain expressions that are compared
 against the value of the switch expression.
 In a type switch, the cases contain types that are compared against the
 type of a specially annotated switch expression.
 </p>

 <h4 id="Expression_switches">Expression switches</h4>

 <p>
 In an expression switch,
 the switch expression is evaluated and
 the case expressions, which need not be constants,
 are evaluated left-to-right and top-to-bottom; the first one that equals the
 switch expression
 triggers execution of the statements of the associated case;
 the other cases are skipped.
 If no case matches and there is a "default" case,
 its statements are executed.
 There can be at most one default case and it may appear anywhere in the
 "switch" statement.
 A missing expression is equivalent to
 the expression <code>true</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ExprSwitchStmt = "switch" [ SimpleStmt ";" ] [ Expression ] "{" { ExprCaseClause } "}" .
 ExprCaseClause = ExprSwitchCase ":" [ StatementList ] .
 ExprSwitchCase = "case" ExpressionList | "default" .
 </pre>

 <p>
 In a case or default clause,
 the last statement only may be a "fallthrough" statement
 (§<a href="#Fallthrough_statement">Fallthrough statement</a>) to
 indicate that control should flow from the end of this clause to
 the first statement of the next clause.
 Otherwise control flows to the end of the "switch" statement.
 </p>

 <p>
 The expression may be preceded by a simple statement, which
 executes before the expression is evaluated.
 </p>

 <pre>
 switch tag {
 default: s3()
 case 0, 1, 2, 3: s1()
 case 4, 5, 6, 7: s2()
 }

 switch x := f(); {
 case x &lt; 0: return -x
 default: return x
 }

 switch {  // missing expression means "true"
 case x &lt; y: f1();
 case x &lt; z: f2();
 case x == 4: f3();
 }
 </pre>

 <h4 id="Type_switches">Type switches</h4>

 <p>
 A type switch compares types rather than values. It is otherwise similar
 to an expression switch. It is marked by a special switch expression that
 has the form of a <a href="#Type_assertions">type assertion</a>
 using the reserved word <code>type</code> rather than an actual type.
 Cases then match literal types against the dynamic type of the expression
 in the type assertion.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 TypeSwitchStmt  = "switch" [ SimpleStmt ";" ] TypeSwitchGuard "{" { TypeCaseClause } "}" .
 TypeSwitchGuard = [ identifier ":=" ] Expression "." "(" "type" ")" .
 TypeCaseClause  = TypeSwitchCase ":" [ StatementList ] .
 TypeSwitchCase  = "case" TypeList | "default" .
 TypeList        = Type { "," Type } .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The TypeSwitchGuard may include a
 <a href="#Short_variable_declarations">short variable declaration</a>.
 When that form is used, the variable is declared in each clause.
 In clauses with a case listing exactly one type, the variable
 has that type; otherwise, the variable has the type of the expression
 in the TypeSwitchGuard.
 </p>

 <p>
 The type in a case may be <code>nil</code>
 (§<a href="#Predeclared_identifiers">Predeclared identifiers</a>);
 that case is used when the expression in the TypeSwitchGuard
 is a <code>nil</code> interface value.
 </p>

 <p>
 Given a function <code>f</code> that returns
 a value of type <code>interface{}</code>,
 the following type switch:
 </p>

 <pre>
 switch i := f().(type) {
 case nil:
 	printString("f() returns nil");
 case int:
 	printInt(i);  // i is an int
 case float:
 	printFloat(i);  // i is a float
 case func(int) float:
 	printFunction(i);  // i is a function
 case bool, string:
 	printString("type is bool or string");  // i is an interface{}
 default:
 	printString("don't know the type");
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 could be rewritten:
 </p>

 <pre>
 v := f();
 if v == nil {
 	printString("f() returns nil");
 } else if i, is_int := v.(int); is_int {
 	printInt(i);  // i is an int
 } else if i, is_float := v.(float); is_float {
 	printFloat(i);  // i is a float
 } else if i, is_func := v.(func(int) float); is_func {
 	printFunction(i);  // i is a function
 } else {
 	i1, is_bool := v.(bool);
 	i2, is_string := v.(string);
 	if is_bool || is_string {
 		i := v;
 		printString("type is bool or string");  // i is an interface{}
 	} else {
 		i := v;
 		printString("don't know the type");  // i is an interface{}
 	}
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 The type switch guard may be preceded by a simple statement, which
 executes before the guard is evaluated.
 </p>

 <p>
 The "fallthrough" statement is not permitted in a type switch.
 </p>

 <h3 id="For_statements">For statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "for" statement specifies repeated execution of a block. The iteration is
 controlled by a condition, a "for" clause, or a "range" clause.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ForStmt = "for" [ Condition | ForClause | RangeClause ] Block .
 Condition = Expression .
 </pre>

 <p>
 In its simplest form, a "for" statement specifies the repeated execution of
 a block as long as a boolean condition evaluates to true.
 The condition is evaluated before each iteration.
 If the condition is absent, it is equivalent to <code>true</code>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 for a &lt; b {
 	a *= 2
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 A "for" statement with a ForClause is also controlled by its condition, but
 additionally it may specify an <i>init</i>
 and a <i>post</i> statement, such as an assignment,
 an increment or decrement statement. The init statement may be a
 <a href="#Short_variable_declarations">short variable declaration</a>, but the post statement must not.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ForClause = InitStmt ";" [ Condition ] ";" PostStmt .
 InitStmt = SimpleStmt .
 PostStmt = SimpleStmt .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
 	f(i)
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 If non-empty, the init statement is executed once before evaluating the
 condition for the first iteration;
 the post statement is executed after each execution of the block (and
 only if the block was executed).
 Any element of the ForClause may be empty but the semicolons are
 required unless there is only a condition.
 If the condition is absent, it is equivalent to <code>true</code>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 for cond { S() }    is the same as    for ; cond ; { S() }
 for      { S() }    is the same as    for true     { S() }
 </pre>

 <p>
 A "for" statement with a "range" clause
 iterates through all entries of an array, slice, string or map,
 or values received on a channel.
 For each entry it first assigns the current index or key to an iteration
 variable - or the current (index, element) or (key, value) pair to a pair
 of iteration variables - and then executes the block.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 RangeClause = ExpressionList ( "=" | ":=" ) "range" Expression .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The type of the right-hand expression in the "range" clause must be an
 array, slice, string or map, or a pointer to an array;
 or it may be a channel.
 Except for channels,
 the identifier list must contain one or two expressions
 (as in assignments, these must be a
 variable, pointer indirection, field selector, or index expression)
 denoting the
 iteration variables. On each iteration,
 the first variable is set to the string, array or slice index or
 map key, and the second variable, if present, is set to the corresponding
 string or array element or map value.
 The types of the array or slice index (always <code>int</code>)
 and element, or of the map key and value respectively,
 must be <a href="#Assignment_compatibility">assignment compatible</a> with
 the type of the iteration variables.
 </p>
 <p>
 For strings, the "range" clause iterates over the Unicode code points
 in the string.  On successive iterations, the index variable will be the
 index of the first byte of successive UTF-8-encoded code points in the string, and
 the second variable, of type <code>int</code>, will be the value of
 the corresponding code point.  If the iteration encounters an invalid
 UTF-8 sequence, the second variable will be <code>0xFFFD</code>,
 the Unicode replacement character, and the next iteration will advance
 a single byte in the string.
 </p>
 <p>
 For channels, the identifier list must contain one identifier.
 The iteration receives values sent on the channel until the channel is closed;
 it does not process the zero value sent before the channel is closed.
 </p>
 <p>
 The iteration variables may be declared by the "range" clause (":="), in which
 case their scope ends at the end of the "for" statement (§<a href="#Declarations_and">Declarations and</a>
 scope rules). In this case their types are set to
 <code>int</code> and the array element type, or the map key and value types, respectively.
 If the iteration variables are declared outside the "for" statement,
 after execution their values will be those of the last iteration.
 </p>

 <pre>
 var a [10]string;
 m := map[string]int{"mon":0, "tue":1, "wed":2, "thu":3, "fri":4, "sat":5, "sun":6};

 for i, s := range a {
 	// type of i is int
 	// type of s is string
 	// s == a[i]
 	g(i, s)
 }

 var key string;
 var val interface {};  // value type of m is assignment compatible to val
 for key, val = range m {
 	h(key, val)
 }
 // key == last map key encountered in iteration
 // val == map[key]
 </pre>

 <p>
 If map entries that have not yet been processed are deleted during iteration,
 they will not be processed. If map entries are inserted during iteration, the
 behavior is implementation-dependent, but each entry will be processed at most once.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Go_statements">Go statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "go" statement starts the execution of a function or method call
 as an independent concurrent thread of control, or <i>goroutine</i>,
 within the same address space.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 GoStmt = "go" Expression .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The expression must be a call, and
 unlike with a regular call, program execution does not wait
 for the invoked function to complete.
 </p>

 <pre>
 go Server()
 go func(ch chan&lt;- bool) { for { sleep(10); ch &lt;- true; }} (c)
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Select_statements">Select statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "select" statement chooses which of a set of possible communications
 will proceed.  It looks similar to a "switch" statement but with the
 cases all referring to communication operations.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 SelectStmt = "select" "{" { CommClause } "}" .
 CommClause = CommCase ":" StatementList .
 CommCase = "case" ( SendExpr | RecvExpr) | "default" .
 SendExpr =  Expression "&lt;-" Expression .
 RecvExpr =  [ Expression ( "=" | ":=" ) ] "&lt;-" Expression .
 </pre>

 <p>
 For all the send and receive expressions in the "select"
 statement, the channel expressions are evaluated, along with
 any expressions that appear on the right hand side of send expressions,
 in top-to-bottom order.
 If any of the resulting operations can proceed, one is
 chosen and the corresponding communication and statements are
 evaluated.  Otherwise, if there is a default case, that executes;
 if not, the statement blocks until one of the communications can
 complete.  The channels and send expressions are not re-evaluated.
 A channel pointer may be <code>nil</code>,
 which is equivalent to that case not
 being present in the select statement
 except, if a send, its expression is still evaluated.
 </p>
 <p>
 Since all the channels and send expressions are evaluated, any side
 effects in that evaluation will occur for all the communications
 in the "select" statement.
 </p>
 <p>
 If multiple cases can proceed, a uniform fair choice is made to decide
 which single communication will execute.
 <p>
 The receive case may declare a new variable using a
 <a href="#Short_variable_declarations">short variable declaration</a>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 var c, c1, c2 chan int;
 var i1, i2 int;
 select {
 case i1 = &lt;-c1:
 	print("received ", i1, " from c1\n");
 case c2 &lt;- i2:
 	print("sent ", i2, " to c2\n");
 default:
 	print("no communication\n");
 }

 for {  // send random sequence of bits to c
 	select {
 	case c &lt;- 0:  // note: no statement, no fallthrough, no folding of cases
 	case c &lt;- 1:
 	}
 }
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Return_statements">Return statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "return" statement terminates execution of the containing function
 and optionally provides a result value or values to the caller.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ReturnStmt = "return" [ ExpressionList ] .
 </pre>

 <p>
 In a function without a result type, a "return" statement must not
 specify any result values.
 </p>
 <pre>
 func no_result() {
 	return
 }
 </pre>

 <p>
 There are three ways to return values from a function with a result
 type:
 </p>

 <ol>
 	<li>The return value or values may be explicitly listed
 		in the "return" statement. Each expression must be single-valued
 		and <a href="#Assignment_compatibility">assignment compatible</a>
 		with the type of the corresponding element of the function's
 		result type.
 <pre>
 func simple_f() int {
 	return 2
 }

 func complex_f1() (re float, im float) {
 	return -7.0, -4.0
 }
 </pre>
 	</li>
 	<li>The expression list in the "return" statement may be a single
 		call to a multi-valued function. The effect is as if each value
 		returned from that function were assigned to a temporary
 		variable with the type of the respective value, followed by a
 		"return" statement listing these variables, at which point the
 		rules of the previous case apply.
 <pre>
 func complex_f2() (re float, im float) {
 	return complex_f1()
 }
 </pre>
 	</li>
 	<li>The expression list may be empty if the functions's result
 		type specifies names for its result parameters (§<a href="#Function_Types">Function Types</a>).
 		The result parameters act as ordinary local variables that are
 		initialized to the zero values for their type (§<a href="#The_zero_value">The zero value</a>)
 		and the function may assign values to them as necessary.
 		The "return" statement returns the values of these variables.
 <pre>
 func complex_f3() (re float, im float) {
 	re = 7.0;
 	im = 4.0;
 	return;
 }
 </pre>
 	</li>
 </ol>

 <p>
 <span class="alert">
 TODO: Define when return is required.<br />
 TODO: Language about result parameters needs to go into a section on
       function/method invocation<br />
 </span>
 </p>

 <h3 id="Break_statements">Break statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "break" statement terminates execution of the innermost
 "for", "switch" or "select" statement.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 BreakStmt = "break" [ Label ].
 </pre>

 <p>
 If there is a label, it must be that of an enclosing
 "for", "switch" or "select" statement, and that is the one whose execution
 terminates
 (§<a href="#For_statements">For statements</a>, §<a href="#Switch_statements">Switch statements</a>, §<a href="#Select_statements">Select statements</a>).
 </p>

 <pre>
 L: for i < n {
 	switch i {
 		case 5: break L
 	}
 }
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Continue_statements">Continue statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "continue" statement begins the next iteration of the
 innermost "for" loop at its post statement (§<a href="#For_statements">For statements</a>).
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ContinueStmt = "continue" [ Label ].
 </pre>

 <p>
 The optional label is analogous to that of a "break" statement.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Goto_statements">Goto statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "goto" statement transfers control to the statement with the corresponding label.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 GotoStmt = "goto" Label .
 </pre>

 <pre>
 goto Error
 </pre>

 <p>
 Executing the "goto" statement must not cause any variables to come into
 scope that were not already in scope at the point of the goto.  For
 instance, this example:
 </p>

 <pre>
 goto L;  // BAD
 v := 3;
 L:
 </pre>

 <p>
 is erroneous because the jump to label <code>L</code> skips
 the creation of <code>v</code>.
 (<span class="alert">TODO: Eliminate in favor of used and not set errors?</span>)
 </p>

 <h3 id="Fallthrough_statements">Fallthrough statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "fallthrough" statement transfers control to the first statement of the
 next case clause in a expression "switch" statement (§<a href="#Expression_switches">Expression switches</a>). It may
 be used only as the final non-empty statement in a case or default clause in an
 expression "switch" statement.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 FallthroughStmt = "fallthrough" .
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Defer_statements">Defer statements</h3>

 <p>
 A "defer" statement invokes a function whose execution is deferred to the moment
 the surrounding function returns.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 DeferStmt = "defer" Expression .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The expression must be a function or method call.
 Each time the "defer" statement
 executes, the parameters to the function call are evaluated and saved anew but the
 function is not invoked.
 Deferred function calls are executed in LIFO order
 immediately before the surrounding function returns,
 but after the return values, if any, have been evaluated.
 </p>

 <pre>
 lock(l);
 defer unlock(l);  // unlocking happens before surrounding function returns

 // prints 3 2 1 0 before surrounding function returns
 for i := 0; i &lt;= 3; i++ {
 	defer fmt.Print(i);
 }
 </pre>

 <h2 id="Built-in_functions">Built-in functions</h2>

 <p>
 A small number of built-in functions are
 <a href="#Predeclared_identifiers">predeclared</a>.
 They are called like any other function but some of them
 accept a type instead of an expression as the first argument.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 BuiltinCall = identifier "(" [ BuiltinArgs ] ")" .
 BuiltinArgs = Type [ "," ExpressionList ] | ExpressionList .
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Close_and_closed">Close and closed</h3>

 <p>
 For a channel <code>c</code>, the predefined function <code>close(c)</code>
 marks the channel as unable to accept more
 values through a send operation.  After any previously
 sent values have been received, receive operations will return
 the zero value for the channel's type.  After at least one such zero value has been
 received, <code>closed(c)</code> returns true.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Length_and_capacity">Length and capacity</h3>

 <p>
 The built-in functions <code>len</code> and <code>cap</code> take arguments
 of various types and return a result of type <code>int</code>.
 The implementation guarantees that the result always fits into an <code>int</code>.
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 Call      Argument type        Result

 len(s)    string type          string length in bytes
           [n]T, *[n]T          array length (== n)
           []T                  slice length
           map[K]T              map length (number of defined keys)
           chan T               number of elements queued in channel buffer

 cap(s)    [n]T, *[n]T          array length (== n)
           []T                  slice capacity
           chan T               channel buffer capacity
 </pre>

 <p>
 The capacity of a slice is the number of elements for which there is
 space allocated in the underlying array.
 At any time the following relationship holds:
 </p>

 <pre>
 0 <= len(s) <= cap(s)
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Allocation">Allocation</h3>

 <p>
 The built-in function <code>new</code> takes a type <code>T</code> and
 returns a value of type <code>*T</code>.
 The memory is initialized as described in the section on initial values
 (§<a href="#The_zero_value">The zero value</a>).
 </p>

 <pre>
 new(T)
 </pre>

 <p>
 For instance
 </p>

 <pre>
 type S struct { a int; b float }
 new(S)
 </pre>

 <p>
 dynamically allocates memory for a variable of type <code>S</code>,
 initializes it (<code>a=0</code>, <code>b=0.0</code>),
 and returns a value of type <code>*S</code> containing the address
 of the memory.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Making_slices_maps_and_channels">Making slices, maps and channels</h3>

 <p>
 Slices, maps and channels are reference types that do not require the
 extra indirection of an allocation with <code>new</code>.
 The built-in function <code>make</code> takes a type <code>T</code>,
 which must be a slice, map or channel type,
 optionally followed by a type-specific list of expressions.
 It returns a value of type <code>T</code> (not <code>*T</code>).
 The memory is initialized as described in the section on initial values
 (§<a href="#The_zero_value">The zero value</a>).
 </p>

 <pre>
 make(T [, optional list of expressions])
 </pre>

 <p>
 For instance
 </p>

 <pre>
 make(map[string] int)
 </pre>

 <p>
 creates a new map value and initializes it to an empty map.
 </p>

 <p>
 The parameters affect sizes for allocating slices, maps, and
 buffered channels:
 </p>

 <pre>
 s := make([]int, 10, 100);        # slice with len(s) == 10, cap(s) == 100
 s := make([]int, 10);             # slice with len(s) == cap(s) == 10
 c := make(chan int, 10);          # channel with a buffer size of 10
 m := make(map[string] int, 100);  # map with initial space for 100 elements
 </pre>


 <h3 id="Bootstrapping">Bootstrapping</h3>

 <p>
 Current implementations provide several built-in functions useful during
 bootstrapping. These functions are documented for completeness but are not
 guaranteed to stay in the language. They do not return a result.
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 Function   Behavior

 print      prints all arguments; formatting of arguments is implementation-specific
 println    like print but prints spaces between arguments and a newline at the end
 panic      like print, aborts execution after printing
 panicln    like println, aborts execution after printing
 </pre>


 <h2 id="Packages">Packages</h2>

 <p>
 Go programs are constructed by linking together <i>packages</i>.
 A package in turn is constructed from one or more source files
 that together declare constants, types, variables and functions
 belonging to the package and which are accessible in all files
 of the same package. Those elements may be
 <a href="#Exported_identifiers">exported</a> and used in another package.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Source_file_organization">Source file organization</h3>

 <p>
 Each source file consists of a package clause defining the package
 to which it belongs, followed by a possibly empty set of import
 declarations that declare packages whose contents it wishes to use,
 followed by a possibly empty set of declarations of functions,
 types, variables, and constants.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 SourceFile       = PackageClause { ImportDecl [ ";" ] } { TopLevelDecl [ ";" ] } .
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Package_clause">Package clause</h3>

 <p>
 A package clause begins each source file and defines the package
 to which the file belongs.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 PackageClause  = "package" PackageName .
 PackageName    = identifier .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The PackageName must not be the <a href="#Blank_identifier">blank identifier</a>.
 </p>

 <pre>
 package math
 </pre>

 <p>
 A set of files sharing the same PackageName form the implementation of a package.
 An implementation may require that all source files for a package inhabit the same directory.
 </p>

 <h3 id="Import_declarations">Import declarations</h3>

 <p>
 An import declaration states that the source file containing the
 declaration uses identifiers
 <a href="#Exported_identifiers">exported</a> by the <i>imported</i>
 package and enables access to them.  The import names an
 identifier (PackageName) to be used for access and an ImportPath
 that specifies the package to be imported.
 </p>

 <pre class="ebnf">
 ImportDecl       = "import" ( ImportSpec | "(" [ ImportSpecList ] ")" ) .
 ImportSpecList   = ImportSpec { ";" ImportSpec } [ ";" ] .
 ImportSpec       = [ "." | PackageName ] ImportPath .
 ImportPath       = StringLit .
 </pre>

 <p>
 The PackageName is used in <a href="#Qualified_identifiers">qualified identifiers</a>
 to access the exported identifiers of the package within the importing source file.
 It is declared in the <a href="#Blocks">file block</a>.
 If the PackageName is omitted, it defaults to the identifier specified in the
 <a href="#Package_clauses">package clause</a> of the imported package.
 If an explicit period (<code>.</code>) appears instead of a name, all the
 package's exported identifiers will be declared in the current file's
 file block and can be accessed without a qualifier.
 </p>

 <p>
 The interpretation of the ImportPath is implementation-dependent but
 it is typically a substring of the full file name of the compiled
 package and may be relative to a repository of installed packages.
 </p>

 <p>
 Assume we have compiled a package containing the package clause
 <code>package math</code>, which exports function <code>Sin</code>, and
 installed the compiled package in the file identified by
 <code>"lib/math"</code>.
 This table illustrates how <code>Sin</code> may be accessed in files
 that import the package after the
 various types of import declaration.
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 Import declaration          Local name of Sin

 import   "lib/math"         math.Sin
 import M "lib/math"         M.Sin
 import . "lib/math"         Sin
 </pre>

 <p>
 An import declaration declares a dependency relation between
 the importing and imported package.
 It is illegal for a package to import itself or to import a package without
 referring to any of its exported identifiers. To import a package solely for
 its side-effects (initialization), use the <a href="#Blank_identifier">blank</a>
 identifier as explicit package name:
 </p>

 <pre>
 import _ "lib/math"
 </pre>


 <h3 id="An_example_package">An example package</h3>

 <p>
 Here is a complete Go package that implements a concurrent prime sieve.
 </p>

 <pre>
 package main

 import "fmt"

 // Send the sequence 2, 3, 4, ... to channel 'ch'.
 func generate(ch chan&lt;- int) {
 	for i := 2; ; i++ {
 		ch &lt;- i;	// Send 'i' to channel 'ch'.
 	}
 }

 // Copy the values from channel 'in' to channel 'out',
 // removing those divisible by 'prime'.
 func filter(src &lt;-chan int, dst chan&lt;- int, prime int) {
 	for i := range src {	// Loop over values received from 'src'.
 		if i%prime != 0 {
 			dst &lt;- i;	// Send 'i' to channel 'dst'.
 		}
 	}
 }

 // The prime sieve: Daisy-chain filter processes together.
 func sieve() {
 	ch := make(chan int);	// Create a new channel.
 	go generate(ch);	// Start generate() as a subprocess.
 	for {
 		prime := &lt;-ch;
 		fmt.Print(prime, "\n");
 		ch1 := make(chan int);
 		go filter(ch, ch1, prime);
 		ch = ch1;
 	}
 }

 func main() {
 	sieve();
 }
 </pre>

 <h2 id="Program_initialization_and_execution">Program initialization and execution</h2>

 <h3 id="The_zero_value">The zero value</h3>
 <p>
 When memory is allocated to store a value, either through a declaration
 or <code>make()</code> or <code>new()</code> call,
 and no explicit initialization is provided, the memory is
 given a default initialization.  Each element of such a value is
 set to the <i>zero value</i> for its type: <code>false</code> for booleans,
 <code>0</code> for integers, <code>0.0</code> for floats, <code>""</code>
 for strings, and <code>nil</code> for pointers, functions, interfaces, slices, channels, and maps.
 This initialization is done recursively, so for instance each element of an
 array of structs will have its fields zeroed if no value is specified.
 </p>
 <p>
 These two simple declarations are equivalent:
 </p>

 <pre>
 var i int;
 var i int = 0;
 </pre>

 <p>
 After
 </p>

 <pre>
 type T struct { i int; f float; next *T };
 t := new(T);
 </pre>

 <p>
 the following holds:
 </p>

 <pre>
 t.i == 0
 t.f == 0.0
 t.next == nil
 </pre>

 <p>
 The same would also be true after
 </p>

 <pre>
 var t T
 </pre>

 <h3 id="Program_execution">Program execution</h3>
 <p>
 A package with no imports is initialized by assigning initial values to
 all its package-level variables
 and then calling any
 package-level function with the name and signature of
 </p>
 <pre>
 func init()
 </pre>
 <p>
 defined in its source. Since a package may contain more
 than one source file, there may be more than one
 <code>init()</code> function in a package, but
 only one per source file.
 </p>
 <p>
 Within a package, package-level variables are initialized,
 and constant values are determined, in
 data-dependent order: if the initializer of <code>A</code>
 depends on the value of <code>B</code>, <code>A</code>
 will be set after <code>B</code>.
 It is an error if such dependencies form a cycle.
 Dependency analysis is done lexically: <code>A</code>
 depends on <code>B</code> if the value of <code>A</code>
 contains a mention of <code>B</code>, contains a value
 whose initializer
 mentions <code>B</code>, or mentions a function that
 mentions <code>B</code>, recursively.
 If two items are not interdependent, they will be initialized
 in the order they appear in the source.
 Since the dependency analysis is done per package, it can produce
 unspecified results  if <code>A</code>'s initializer calls a function defined
 in another package that refers to <code>B</code>.
 </p>
 <p>
 Initialization code may contain "go" statements, but the functions
 they invoke do not begin execution until initialization of the entire
 program is complete. Therefore, all initialization code is run in a single
 goroutine.
 </p>
 <p>
 An <code>init()</code> function cannot be referred to from anywhere
 in a program. In particular, <code>init()</code> cannot be called explicitly,
 nor can a pointer to <code>init</code> be assigned to a function variable.
 </p>
 <p>
 If a package has imports, the imported packages are initialized
 before initializing the package itself. If multiple packages import
 a package <code>P</code>, <code>P</code> will be initialized only once.
 </p>
 <p>
 The importing of packages, by construction, guarantees that there can
 be no cyclic dependencies in initialization.
 </p>
 <p>
 A complete program, possibly created by linking multiple packages,
 must have one package called <code>main</code>, with a function
 </p>

 <pre>
 func main() { ... }
 </pre>

 <p>
 defined.
 The function <code>main.main()</code> takes no arguments and returns no value.
 </p>
 <p>
 Program execution begins by initializing the <code>main</code> package and then
 invoking <code>main.main()</code>.
 </p>
 <p>
 When <code>main.main()</code> returns, the program exits.
 </p>
 <p>
 Implementation restriction: The compiler assumes package <code>main</code>
 is not imported by any other package.
 </p>

 <h2 id="System_considerations">System considerations</h2>

 <h3 id="Package_unsafe">Package <code>unsafe</code></h3>

 <p>
 The built-in package <code>unsafe</code>, known to the compiler,
 provides facilities for low-level programming including operations
 that violate the type system. A package using <code>unsafe</code>
 must be vetted manually for type safety.  The package provides the
 following interface:
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 package unsafe

 type ArbitraryType int  // shorthand for an arbitrary Go type; it is not a real type
 type Pointer *ArbitraryType

 func Alignof(variable ArbitraryType) int
 func Offsetof(selector ArbitraryType) int
 func Sizeof(variable ArbitraryType) int

 func Reflect(val interface {}) (typ runtime.Type, addr uintptr)
 func Typeof(val interface {}) reflect.Type
 func Unreflect(typ runtime.Type, addr uintptr) interface{}
 </pre>

 <p>
 Any pointer or value of type <code>uintptr</code> can be converted into
 a <code>Pointer</code> and vice versa.
 </p>
 <p>
 The function <code>Sizeof</code> takes an expression denoting a
 variable of any type and returns the size of the variable in bytes.
 </p>
 <p>
 The function <code>Offsetof</code> takes a selector (§<a href="#Selectors">Selectors</a>) denoting a struct
 field of any type and returns the field offset in bytes relative to the
 struct's address.
 For a struct <code>s</code> with field <code>f</code>:
 </p>

 <pre>
 uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&amp;s)) + uintptr(unsafe.Offsetof(s.f)) == uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&amp;s.f))
 </pre>

 <p>
 Computer architectures may require memory addresses to be <i>aligned</i>;
 that is, for addresses of a variable to be a multiple of a factor,
 the variable's type's <i>alignment</i>.  The function <code>Alignof</code>
 takes an expression denoting a variable of any type and returns the
 alignment of the (type of the) variable in bytes.  For a variable
 <code>x</code>:
 </p>

 <pre>
 uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&amp;x)) % uintptr(unsafe.Alignof(x)) == 0
 </pre>

 <p>
 Calls to <code>Alignof</code>, <code>Offsetof</code>, and
 <code>Sizeof</code> are compile-time constant expressions of type <code>int</code>.
 </p>
 <p>
 The functions <code>unsafe.Typeof</code>,
 <code>unsafe.Reflect</code>,
 and <code>unsafe.Unreflect</code> allow access at run time to the dynamic
 types and values stored in interfaces.
 <code>Typeof</code> returns a representation of
 <code>val</code>'s
 dynamic type as a <code>runtime.Type</code>.
 <code>Reflect</code> allocates a copy of
 <code>val</code>'s dynamic
 value and returns both the type and the address of the copy.
 <code>Unreflect</code> inverts <code>Reflect</code>,
 creating an
 interface value from a type and address.
 The <code>reflect</code> package built on these primitives
 provides a safe, more convenient way to inspect interface values.
 </p>


 <h3 id="Size_and_alignment_guarantees">Size and alignment guarantees</h3>

 <p>
 For the numeric types (§<a href="#Numeric_types">Numeric types</a>), the following sizes are guaranteed:
 </p>

 <pre class="grammar">
 type                      size in bytes

 byte, uint8, int8         1
 uint16, int16             2
 uint32, int32, float32    4
 uint64, int64, float64    8
 </pre>

 <p>
 The following minimal alignment properties are guaranteed:
 </p>
 <ol>
 <li>For a variable <code>x</code> of any type: <code>1 <= unsafe.Alignof(x) <= unsafe.Maxalign</code>.

 <li>For a variable <code>x</code> of numeric type: <code>unsafe.Alignof(x)</code> is the smaller
    of <code>unsafe.Sizeof(x)</code> and <code>unsafe.Maxalign</code>, but at least 1.

 <li>For a variable <code>x</code> of struct type: <code>unsafe.Alignof(x)</code> is the largest of
    all the values <code>unsafe.Alignof(x.f)</code> for each field <code>f</code> of x, but at least 1.

 <li>For a variable <code>x</code> of array type: <code>unsafe.Alignof(x)</code> is the same as
    <code>unsafe.Alignof(x[0])</code>, but at least 1.
 </ol>

 <h2 id="Implementation_differences"><span class="alert">Implementation differences - TODO</span></h2>
 <ul>
 	<li><span class="alert">Implementation does not honor the restriction on goto statements and targets (no intervening declarations).</span></li>
 	<li><span class="alert">Gccgo does not implement the blank identifier.</span></li>
 	<li><span class="alert">Method expressions are not implemented.</span></li>
 </ul>