Integers

Data Types are a fundamental concept in any programming language, including Go. They specify the type of data that can be stored in a variable.

When declaring a variable, we can specify its Data Type, which determines the kind of data that can be stored in that variable.

One of the most commonly used Data Types is Integers. An integer, as implied by the name, represents a non-decimal number, which can be positive or negative. For instance, -1, 0, 9, or 1234567, among others.

We can declare and initialize an Integer type variable using the following syntax:

Note
Declaring a variable involves specifying its type and name, while Initializing a variable entails assigning an initial value to it.

index


              1
            
var myVariable int = 10

If we specify a type for the variable during declaration, we don't necessarily need to initialize it with a value. Therefore, the following syntax is also valid:

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              1
            
var myVariable int

In the scenario described above, it is assigned a default value of 0. Consequently, the output of the following program will be 0.

index


              1234567
            
package main
import "fmt"

func main() {
    var myVariable int
    fmt.Println(myVariable)
}

It's important to note that when declaring a variable without specifying the Data Type, we must also initialize it:

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              12345
            
// Correct Syntax
var myVariable = 7
   
// Incorrect Syntax
var myVariable

If the data type is not explicitly specified, the compiler automatically infers the Data Type of the variable based on the initially assigned value. Since 7 is an integer value, var myVariable = 7 will be interpreted as a variable of type integer. However, it is advisable to include data type declarations when declaring variables to enhance code readability.

Note
When using the := operator for variable declaration, data types are not explicitly specified.

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Section 2. Chapter 1