How to avoid re-implementing sort.Interface for similar golang structs

Question

There is one problem bothering me in Golang. Say I have 2 structs:

type Dog struct {
   Name string
   Breed string
   Age int
}

type Cat struct {
    Name stri         


        

Answer 1

This Specific Case

In this specific case you shouldn't use 2 different types as they are identical, just use a common Animal type:

type Animal struct {
    Name string
    Age  int
}

func (a Animal) String() string { return fmt.Sprintf("%s(%d)", a.Name, a.Age) }

type SortAnim []*Animal

func (c SortAnim) Len() int           { return len(c) }
func (c SortAnim) Swap(i, j int)      { c[i], c[j] = c[j], c[i] }
func (c SortAnim) Less(i, j int) bool { return c[i].Age < c[j].Age }

func main() {
    dogs := []*Animal{&Animal{"Max", 4}, &Animal{"Buddy", 3}}
    cats := []*Animal{&Animal{"Bella", 4}, &Animal{"Kitty", 3}}

    fmt.Println(dogs)
    sort.Sort(SortAnim(dogs))
    fmt.Println(dogs)

    fmt.Println(cats)
    sort.Sort(SortAnim(cats))
    fmt.Println(cats)
}

Output (Go Playground):

[Max(4) Buddy(3)]
[Buddy(3) Max(4)]
[Bella(4) Kitty(3)]
[Kitty(3) Bella(4)]

General Case

In general you can only use a common sorting implementation if you're willing to give up concrete types and use interface types instead.

Create the interface type you want your slice to hold:

type Animal interface {
    Name() string
    Age() int
}

You can have a common implementation of this:

type animal struct {
    name string
    age  int
}

func (a *animal) Name() string  { return a.name }
func (a *animal) Age() int      { return a.age }
func (a animal) String() string { return fmt.Sprintf("%s(%d)", a.name, a.age) }

Your specific animal types:

type Dog struct {
    animal  // Embed animal (its methods and fields)
}

type Cat struct {
    animal // Embed animal (its methods and fields)
}

You implement sort.Interface on SortAnim:

type SortAnim []Animal

func (c SortAnim) Len() int           { return len(c) }
func (c SortAnim) Swap(i, j int)      { c[i], c[j] = c[j], c[i] }
func (c SortAnim) Less(i, j int) bool { return c[i].Age() < c[j].Age() }

Using it:

dogs := SortAnim{&Dog{animal{"Max", 4}}, &Dog{animal{"Buddy", 3}}}
cats := SortAnim{&Cat{animal{"Bella", 4}}, &Cat{animal{"Kitty", 3}}}

fmt.Println(dogs)
sort.Sort(SortAnim(dogs))
fmt.Println(dogs)

fmt.Println(cats)
sort.Sort(SortAnim(cats))
fmt.Println(cats)

Output (Go Playground):

[Max(4) Buddy(3)]
[Buddy(3) Max(4)]
[Bella(4) Kitty(3)]
[Kitty(3) Bella(4)]