Accessor Methods vs. Dereferencing: Which is Better for Debugging Pointer Fields?

Accessor Methods vs. Dereferencing for Debugging

In this code snippet, you're printing the value of a struct field that is a pointer to another struct. The output is the memory address of the pointed-to struct, not the actual value.

package main

import "fmt"

type SomeStruct struct {
    somePointer *somePointer
}

type somePointer struct {
    field string
}

func main() {
    fmt.Println(SomeStruct{&somePointer{"I want to see what is in here"}})
}

For debugging purposes, it's preferable to print the actual value of the field. There are two ways to achieve this: using accessor methods or dereferencing the pointer.

Accessor Methods

You can create getter methods for each pointer field to retrieve the actual value. For example:

func (s SomeStruct) GetFieldValue() string {
    if s.somePointer == nil {
        return ""
    }
    return s.somePointer.field
}

Then, in your code, you can call the getter method to print the value:

fmt.Println(SomeStruct{&somePointer{"I want to see what is in here"}}.GetFieldValue())

This approach allows you to control the formatting of the output and provides a convenient way to access the field value without the need for dereferencing.

Dereferencing

If you prefer to dereference the pointer directly, you can use the following syntax:

fmt.Println(*SomeStruct{&somePointer{"I want to see what is in here"}}.somePointer)

However, this approach requires caution as dereferencing a nil pointer can lead to a runtime panic. It's recommended to use getter methods for safety unless you're certain the pointer is non-nil.

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