Slices can already be nil

So there's no need to take pointers to them everywhere to get that behaviour
(which is what we have to do with kafka strings).

broker.go

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func (b *Broker) Send(clientID *string, req requestEncoder) (decoder, error) {
 	sendRequest := requestToSend{responsePromise{b.correlation_id, make(chan []byte), make(chan error)}, response != nil}
 
 	b.requests <- sendRequest
-	sendRequest.response.packets <- *packet // we cheat to avoid poofing up more channels than necessary
+	sendRequest.response.packets <- packet // we cheat to avoid poofing up more channels than necessary
 	b.correlation_id++
 
 	select {

message.go

@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ const message_format int8 = 0
 
 type message struct {
 	codec compressionCodec
-	key   *[]byte
-	value *[]byte
+	key   []byte
+	value []byte
 }
 
 func (m *message) encode(pe packetEncoder) {
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func (m *message) encode(pe packetEncoder) {
 
 	pe.putBytes(m.key)
 
-	var body *[]byte
+	var body []byte
 	switch m.codec {
 	case COMPRESSION_NONE:
 		body = m.value
@@ -43,10 +43,9 @@ func (m *message) encode(pe packetEncoder) {
 		if m.value != nil {
 			var buf bytes.Buffer
 			writer := gzip.NewWriter(&buf)
-			writer.Write(*m.value)
+			writer.Write(m.value)
 			writer.Close()
-			tmp := buf.Bytes()
-			body = &tmp
+			body = buf.Bytes()
 		}
 	case COMPRESSION_SNAPPY:
 		// TODO
@@ -93,15 +92,14 @@ func (m *message) decode(pd packetDecoder) (err error) {
 		if m.value == nil {
 			return DecodingError("Nil contents cannot be compressed.")
 		}
-		reader, err := gzip.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(*m.value))
+		reader, err := gzip.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(m.value))
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		tmp, err := ioutil.ReadAll(reader)
+		m.value, err = ioutil.ReadAll(reader)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		m.value = &tmp
 	case COMPRESSION_SNAPPY:
 		// TODO
 	default:

packet_decoder.go

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ type packetDecoder interface {
 	// misc
 	getError() (KError, error)
 	getString() (*string, error)
-	getBytes() (*[]byte, error)
+	getBytes() ([]byte, error)
 	getSubset(length int) (packetDecoder, error)
 
 	// stackable

packet_encoder.go

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ type packetEncoder interface {
 	// misc
 	putError(in KError)
 	putString(in *string)
-	putBytes(in *[]byte)
+	putBytes(in []byte)
 	putRaw(in []byte)
 
 	// stackable
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ type pushEncoder interface {
 	run(curOffset int, buf []byte)
 }
 
-func buildBytes(in encoder) (*[]byte, error) {
+func buildBytes(in encoder) ([]byte, error) {
 	if in == nil {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
@@ -46,5 +46,5 @@ func buildBytes(in encoder) (*[]byte, error) {
 	realEnc.raw = make([]byte, prepEnc.length)
 	in.encode(&realEnc)
 
-	return &(realEnc.raw), nil
+	return realEnc.raw, nil
 }

prep_encoder.go

@@ -54,15 +54,15 @@ func (pe *prepEncoder) putString(in *string) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (pe *prepEncoder) putBytes(in *[]byte) {
+func (pe *prepEncoder) putBytes(in []byte) {
 	pe.length += 4
 	if in == nil {
 		return
 	}
-	if len(*in) > math.MaxInt32 {
+	if len(in) > math.MaxInt32 {
 		pe.err = EncodingError("Bytes too long.")
 	} else {
-		pe.length += len(*in)
+		pe.length += len(in)
 	}
 }
 

real_decoder.go

@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ func (rd *realDecoder) getString() (*string, error) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (rd *realDecoder) getBytes() (*[]byte, error) {
+func (rd *realDecoder) getBytes() ([]byte, error) {
 	tmp, err := rd.getInt32()
 
 	if err != nil {
@@ -135,14 +135,13 @@ func (rd *realDecoder) getBytes() (*[]byte, error) {
 	case n == -1:
 		return nil, nil
 	case n == 0:
-		tmp := make([]byte, 0)
-		return &tmp, nil
+		return make([]byte, 0), nil
 	case n > rd.remaining():
 		return nil, DecodingError("Bytes too long in getBytes.")
 	default:
 		tmp := rd.raw[rd.off : rd.off+n]
 		rd.off += n
-		return &tmp, nil
+		return tmp, nil
 	}
 }
 

real_encoder.go

@@ -59,13 +59,13 @@ func (re *realEncoder) putString(in *string) {
 	re.off += len(*in)
 }
 
-func (re *realEncoder) putBytes(in *[]byte) {
+func (re *realEncoder) putBytes(in []byte) {
 	if in == nil {
 		re.putInt32(-1)
 		return
 	}
-	re.putInt32(int32(len(*in)))
-	re.putRaw(*in)
+	re.putInt32(int32(len(in)))
+	re.putRaw(in)
 }
 
 func (re *realEncoder) putRaw(in []byte) {