The latest articles on DEV Community by Bernadette Akinyi (@bernadetteakinyi). https://dev.to/bernadetteakinyi https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4027622%2F22bb9cb9-6061-402a-aad2-4f7503b5e572.jpg https://dev.to/bernadetteakinyi en Bernadette Akinyi Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:45:59 +0000 https://dev.to/bernadetteakinyi/slices-beyond-the-basics-4ohd https://dev.to/bernadetteakinyi/slices-beyond-the-basics-4ohd <h3> Hey Techie! 🌸 </h3> <p>Welcome to my Go series! I'll be sharing what I'm learning in ways that make sense to me, the mistakes I make and the "aha!" moments that help everything click. Whether you're learning Go too or just curious about it, I hope you'll pick up something along the way.</p> <p>Feel free to add any insights or experiences in the comments.</p> <p>Today's topic is... <em>drumroll, please!</em> <strong>Slices</strong>. Let's dive in!</p> <h2> So, what exactly is a slice? </h2> <p>When I first came across slices in Go, I thought they were another name for arrays. Turns out, they're not!</p> <p>A slice is a dynamic view into an underlying array. It is internally represented by a small data structure called a <strong>slice header</strong>. Instead of storing the elements themselves, the slice header stores a <strong>pointer</strong> to the underlying array, along with its <strong>length</strong> and <strong>capacity</strong>. This realization helped me understand why modifying a slice can also modify the original array.</p> <p>Another interesting and convenient thing is how flexible slices are compared to arrays which are fixed size. Slices can grow using functions like <strong>append()</strong> or be resliced to work with a smaller portion of the underlying array. This flexibility is one of the reasons slices are used so frequently in Go.</p> beginners go discuss software