
Getting the zero value in Go is useful especially when validating if some data is empty.

Previously this could only be done with the `reflect` package but with the introduction of generics in Go `1.18` this can be done with a simple function which takes a type argument and creates a zero value of that type.

```js
package main

import "fmt"

func zero[T any]() T {
	var zero T
	return zero
}

func main() {
	fmt.Println(zero[int]())                    // 0
	fmt.Println(zero[[]string]())               // []
	fmt.Println(zero[struct{ name float64 }]()) // {0}
}
```


Getting the zero value in Go can be useful and the generics feature makes it easy.

How to get the zero value in Go


Formatting time in go can be quite tricky, luckily there is a handy library called `go-humanize` that makes formatting time much easier.

Add the library to your project with the command below.

```sh
go install github.com/dustin/go-humanize
```

Use the library by passing a time instace to the `humanize.Time` function. The output will be a nicely formatted date string in the form of `7 {unit} ago`. See the example snippet below to learn about the usage.

```js
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"time"

	"github.com/dustin/go-humanize"
)

func main() {
	t := time.Now()
	fmt.Println(humanize.Time(t))
}

```

# Sources

- [go package documentation](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/dustin/go-humanize)
- [library repository](https://github.com/dustin/go-humanize)


Formatting time in go can be quite tricky, luckily there is a handy library called go-humanize that makes formatting time much easier.

Techbits

How to get the zero value in Go

How to format time in Go