pointless

A Go linter that suggests using value types instead of pointers for small structs.

The name is a pun: "pointer" + "less" = "pointless" (also meaning "unnecessary").

Installation

go install github.com/mickamy/pointless@latest

Usage

# Basic usage
pointless ./...

# Change threshold (default: 1024 bytes)
pointless -threshold 512 ./...

What It Detects

1. Function Return Types

// Warning: consider returning value instead of pointer
func GetUser() *User { ... }

// OK: may return nil
func FindUser(id int) *User {
    if notFound {
        return nil
    }
    return &user
}

// OK: struct is large (> 1024 bytes)
func GetData() *LargeData { ... }

2. Method Receivers

// Warning: consider using value receiver
func (u *User) FullName() string {
    return u.FirstName + " " + u.LastName  // read-only
}

// OK: mutates receiver
func (u *User) SetName(name string) {
    u.Name = name
}

3. Pointer Slices

// Warning: consider using []User instead of []*User
func GetUsers() []*User { ... }
users := make([]*User, 100)

// OK: uses nil as element
if users[i] == nil { ... }

Not Checked: Function Arguments

// Too difficult to determine intent
func (r *UserRepo) Update(u *User) error
func Process(u *User) error

Suppressing Warnings

// nolint:pointless
func GetUser() *User { ... }

// pointless:ignore
func GetUser() *User { ... }

// nolint
func GetUser() *User { ... }

Configuration

Create .pointless.yaml or .pointless.yml in your project root:

threshold: 1024  # bytes

exclude:
  - "*_test.go"
  - "vendor/**"

CI Integration

# .github/workflows/lint.yaml
jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          go-version: '1.24'

      - name: pointless
        run: |
          go install github.com/mickamy/pointless@latest
          pointless ./...

Why Prefer Value Types?

Memory Layout

[]User (value slice):
┌────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┐
│ User 0 │ User 1 │ User 2 │ User 3 │  ← contiguous memory
└────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┘

[]*User (pointer slice):
┌────┬────┬────┬────┐
│ *  │ *  │ *  │ *  │  ← pointer array
└─┬──┴─┬──┴─┬──┴─┬──┘
  │    │    │    │
  ▼    ▼    ▼    ▼
┌────┐┌────┐┌────┐┌────┐  ← scattered allocations
│User││User││User││User│
└────┘└────┘└────┘└────┘

Benefits of Value Types

1. CPU cache efficiency - Contiguous memory improves spatial locality
2. Fewer allocations - 1 allocation vs N+1 allocations
3. Lower GC pressure - Fewer pointers to track
4. Immutability - Prevents unintended mutations

Why 1024 Bytes as Default Threshold?

• Go goroutine stacks start at 2KB and grow automatically
• A struct with ~50 fields typically uses 400-800 bytes
• Contiguous memory copies are efficiently handled by CPU (SIMD-optimized memcpy)
• Pointer indirection can cause cache misses, which may be more expensive than copying
• Slice/map fields only copy the header, not the underlying data

License

MIT