Go Channels Buffered vs unbuffered

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Example

func bufferedUnbufferedExample(buffered bool) {
    // We'll declare the channel, and we'll make it buffered or
    // unbuffered depending on the parameter `buffered` passed
    // to this function.
    var ch chan int
    if buffered {
        ch = make(chan int, 3)
    } else {
        ch = make(chan int)
    }
    
    // We'll start a goroutine, which will emulate a webserver
    // receiving tasks to do every 25ms.
    go func() {
        for i := 0; i < 7; i++ {
            // If the channel is buffered, then while there's an empty
            // "slot" in the channel, sending to it will not be a
            // blocking operation. If the channel is full, however, we'll
            // have to wait until a "slot" frees up.
            // If the channel is unbuffered, sending will block until
            // there's a receiver ready to take the value. This is great
            // for goroutine synchronization, not so much for queueing
            // tasks for instance in a webserver, as the request will
            // hang until the worker is ready to take our task.
            fmt.Println(">", "Sending", i, "...")
            ch <- i
            fmt.Println(">", i, "sent!")
            time.Sleep(25 * time.Millisecond)
        }
        // We'll close the channel, so that the range over channel
        // below can terminate.
        close(ch)
    }()
    
    for i := range ch {
        // For each task sent on the channel, we would perform some
        // task. In this case, we will assume the job is to
        // "sleep 100ms".
        fmt.Println("<", i, "received, performing 100ms job")
        time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
        fmt.Println("<", i, "job done")
    }
}

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