Are channels passed by reference implicitly

Question

The go tour has this example for channels: https://tour.golang.org/concurrency/2

package main

import \"fmt\"

func sum(a []int, c chan int) {
    sum := 0
    f         


        

Answer 1

Channel variables are references, but it depends on your definition of 'reference'. Language specification never mentions reference types.

No channel (variable) is 'modified' in the sum function. Sending to a channel changes its state.

In other words, yes the channel is implemented as a pointer to some run time structure. Note that that's strictly necessary for the reference semantics.

EDIT: The above sentence was meant to read: "Note that that's not strictly necessary for the reference semantics.", ie. the word 'not' went MIA. Sorry for any eventually created confusion.