The reflect.Value.InterfaceData() method has been deprecated since Go 1.4 and should not be used in modern Go code.
In earlier versions of Go, this method returned the interface’s value as a uintptr pair. However, as of Go 1.4, changes to the implementation of
interface values mean that InterfaceData() has no defined use. The memory representation of interface values is no longer compatible with
the data returned by this method.
Using deprecated methods can lead to several problems:
- Unpredictable behavior: The method may not work as expected due to internal implementation changes
- Future compatibility issues: Deprecated methods may be removed in future Go versions
- Maintenance burden: Code using deprecated APIs becomes harder to maintain and update
The Go documentation explicitly states that the memory representation of interface values is not compatible with InterfaceData, making
any use of this method unreliable and potentially dangerous.
What is the potential impact?
Using the deprecated InterfaceData() method can lead to unpredictable behavior and runtime issues. Since the method has no defined use
and the underlying memory representation has changed, code relying on it may produce incorrect results or fail unexpectedly. Additionally, future Go
versions may remove this method entirely, breaking code that depends on it.
