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Updated on 2025-03-04

Map expansion mechanism in Go language

In Go, map is a powerful and commonly used data structure that provides efficient key-value pair storage and search functions. As the number of elements in the map increases, the underlying data structure needs to be expanded to maintain performance. This article will explore in-depth the expansion mechanism of maps in Go language to help developers better understand and use maps.

The basic structure of map

In Go, the underlying implementation of map consists of a hash table and multiple buckets. Each bucket contains several key-value pairs. When we add key-value pairs to map, the key is converted to a hash value by the hash function, and then decide which bucket to put into based on the hash value.

Expansion trigger conditions

As the number of elements in a map continues to increase, the probability of hash collisions also increases, resulting in a degradation in the performance of the lookup and insert operations. To maintain efficient operational performance, Go maps will trigger capacity expansion in the following cases:

1. The load factor exceeds the threshold: the load factor refers to the ratio of the number of elements in the map to the number of buckets. Map triggers capacity expansion when the load factor exceeds a certain threshold (usually 6.5).
2.

Expansion process

When map triggers expansion, a new larger hash table is created and elements from the old hash table are rehashed and migrated to the new hash table. The specific steps are as follows:

1.    Create a new hash table: The new hash table is twice the size of the old hash table.
2. Rehash: Recalculate the hash value for each element in the old hash table and put it into the new bucket according to the new hash table size.
3.    Migrate elements: Gradually migrate elements from the old hash table to the new hash table.

Progressive expansion

Maps in Go use a technology called incremental rehashing to avoid performance jitter during the expansion process. Progressive expansion does not complete all elements migration at once, but distributes the migration process into subsequent insertion and search operations. This method can smoothly distribute the overhead of capacity expansion into multiple operations, thereby avoiding the performance impact of single capacity expansion.

Code Example

The following is a simple code example showing the scaling process of map:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    m := make(map[int]int)
    
    // Add elements to map    for i := 0; i < 1000; i++ {
        m[i] = i
    }
    
    ("Map size:", len(m))
    
    // Trigger capacity expansion    m[1001] = 1001
    
    ("Map size after adding one more element:", len(m))
}

In this example, we add 1000 elements to the map and then add a new element to trigger the map's expansion. By observing the size change of map, we can see the effect of expansion.

Performance optimization suggestions

  • Pre-allocated capacity: If you can estimate the number of elements in a map, it is best to pre-allocate capacity when creating a map to reduce the number of expansions. The initial capacity can be specified using the third parameter of the make function:
m := make(map[int]int, 1000)
  • Reduce hash conflicts: Select the appropriate hash function and key type, try to avoid hash conflicts, and can improve the performance of maps.
  • Avoid frequent capacity expansion: In performance-sensitive scenarios, try to avoid frequent capacity expansion. Performance can be optimized through reasonable initial capacity settings and efficient key distribution.

in conclusion

Map in Go provides an efficient way to store and find key-value pairs, and its underlying capacity expansion mechanism ensures performance in the case of large data volumes. By understanding and mastering the expansion mechanism of maps, developers can use maps more efficiently in actual projects and improve program performance.

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