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Initializing Structs

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's GO journey. Lesson 98 of 109.

There are multiple ways to initialize structs in Go. Let's explore the most common methods.

Create a struct with field names:

type Person struct {
    name string
    age  int
}

func main() {
    // Initialize with field names
    person1 := Person{name: "Alice", age: 30}
    fmt.Println(person1)
}

The output shows our initialized struct:

{Alice 30}

You can also initialize a struct without field names, but you must provide values in order:

person2 := Person{"Bob", 25}
fmt.Println(person2)

Result:

{Bob 25}

Create an empty struct with zero values:

person3 := Person{}
fmt.Println(person3)

Result:

{  0}

Challenge

Beginner

In this challenge, you'll practice initializing a struct in Go. We've defined a Person struct with fields for name, age, and whether the person is employed.

Your task is to initialize a new Person struct instance with the following information:

Name: "Alice"
Age: 28
IsEmployed: true

Then we'll print out the information about this person.

Try it yourself

package main

import "fmt"

// Person struct definition
type Person struct {
	Name       string
	Age        int
	IsEmployed bool
}

func main() {
	// TODO: Initialize a Person struct with name "Alice", age 28, and isEmployed true
	// Use either the field names or the struct literal syntax
	var alice Person
	
	// Print the person's information
	fmt.Printf("Name: %s\n", alice.Name)
	fmt.Printf("Age: %d\n", alice.Age)
	fmt.Printf("Employed: %t\n", alice.IsEmployed)
}

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Fundamentals

1Introduction to Go

What is Go?Hello World Println Go Comments

4Comparison & Logical Operators

Comparison Operators - Part 1 Comparison Operators - Part 2 Logical AND Operator Logical OR Operator Logical NOT Operator Operator Precedence Basics Recap - Making Comparisons

7Control Flow: Loops

What The `for` Loop Explained For Loop - Basic For Loop - Condition Only The `break` Keyword The `continue` Keyword Nested Loops Recap - Repeating Actions

10Composite Types: Arrays

Introduction to Arrays Declaring Arrays Initializing Arrays Accessing Array Elements Array Length with `len`Iterating Over Arrays Multi-dimensional Arrays

13Composite Types: Structs

Defining Custom Types Creating Struct Instances Accessing Struct Fields Pointers to StructsInitializing StructsEmbedded Structs Anonymous Structs Recap - Custom Data Structures

2Variables and Basic Data Types

What is a variable Type Inference with `:=`Integers (int)Floating-Point Numbers Booleans Strings Zero Values Constants Naming Conventions Recap - Variables and Types

5Basic Input/Output

Formatted Output Format Verbs Printing Types Getting Basic User Input Recap - Input and Output

8Functions

Understanding Functions Declaring a Function Calling Functions Function Parameters Returning a Single Value Returning Multiple Values Named Return Values Function Scope Basics Recap - Creating Reusable Code

11Composite Types: Slices

Introduction to Slices Declaring Slice Literals Creating Slices with `make`Slice Length vs Capacity Accessing Slice Elements Appending Elements Slicing Existing Slices/Arrays Iterating Over Slices Copying Slices Recap - Dynamic Lists

14Basic Error Handling

The Concept of Errors The `error` Interface Functions Returning Errors Checking for Errors Creating Simple Errors Creating Formatted Errors Basic Error Handling Recap - Handling Problems

Practice on your own: Online Go compiler