Understanding Go Slices

Slices in Go are a data type that provides a more powerful interface to sequences than arrays. Unlike arrays, slices are dynamically-sized and flexible, allowing for efficient operations like slicing without copying the underlying array.

Each slice in Go has three components: a pointer to the array, the length of the segment it represents, and its capacity. The capacity indicates the maximum size the slice can grow to without reallocating.

Slices can be created with the built-in `make` function, initialized from an array, or using a slice literal. `make([]int, 5)` creates a slice of integers with length and capacity 5, initialized to zero.

When you create a new slice by 'slicing' an existing one, no data is copied. Instead, a new slice reference is created pointing to the same underlying array but with different start and end points.

The `append` function can add elements to a slice. If the slice has enough capacity, elements are added in place. If not, a new array is allocated with double the original capacity to accommodate growth.

The `copy` function can duplicate elements from one slice to another. Full slice expressions allow control over the capacity of the resulting slice, a lesser-known feature useful for limiting the slice's growth.

Slices can lead to memory leaks if large arrays are kept in memory by a slice that only uses a small part. To prevent this, it's often a good practice to copy the required elements to a new slice.