Go methods sets — Calling method for pointer type *T with receiver T

Question

Go spec says:

The method set of any other type T consists of all methods with receiver type T. The method set of the corresponding pointer type *T is

Answer 1

You cannot call a method of *T on T, but the compiler is smart enough to take the reference of the variable for you, effectively calling

(&user).SayWat()

This is explained here:

Calls: A method call x.m() is valid if the method set of (the type of) x contains m and the argument list can be assigned to the parameter list of m. If x is addressable and &x's method set contains m, x.m() is shorthand for (&x).m().

To understand the difference, you can for instance take a return value (non-addressable):

func aUser() User {
    return User{}
}

...

aUser().SayWat()

Fails with error:

prog.go:40: cannot call pointer method on aUser()
prog.go:40: cannot take the address of aUser()

http://play.golang.org/p/HOTKiiOK7S