[cowboysauce]

No, interface {} is more like void pointers in C and C++ or Object in C# and Java. It can hold values of any type. One of the major selling points of actual generics is that they provide type safety, but interface {} doesn't provide that.

[jj2]

Go type assertions are quite safe on the other hand, unlike C type casts. The only thing generics will do is to avoid that extra assertion step and the bit of overhead that's involved in that. You could argue wether it will actually increase readability of your code.

[pionar]

Generics (when used/implemented correctly) provide way more than just elimination of type assertions. It provides compile-time type safety, rather than runtime safety. It also provides elimination of the overhead (which isn't trivial, reflection is not inconsequential) and boilerplate code. It also allows you to use the same function/method for many different types without having to resort to boxing everything to an interface/object.

[eropple]

Depending on the implementation, too, generics can be more friendly in other ways. C# emits code for both value types and reference types when appropriate and uses the correct paths as needed.

[tapirl]

unsafe.Pointer is the equivalent of C void pointer. interface{} is Any of Object in some other languages.