[coder543]

This isn't even true.

No matter what syntax you write inside a function, the Go compiler always has the final say on what is stack allocated and what is heap allocated. Taking the address of foo will not cause foo to be heap allocated unless Go is unable to prove that the pointer will live for less time than the current stack frame. Look up "escape analysis".

Basically the only way to guarantee that something will always be heap allocated is to assign it to a global variable. Even returning a pointer to that object from the current function is not a strong guarantee, since the compiler could inline this function into the caller and determine that everything can live happily inside the newly inlined stack frame without heap allocation.

[kevincox]

Good point. It isn't "must", I should have said "may".