Suggest replacing variables that have constant values with actual constants

[dominikh]

var magicNumber = 42
use(magicNumber)

could use a const instead. Using a real constant would signal to people and tools alike that the value of the variable intentionally never changes.

Labelled as needs-decision for now because I'm not sure how much people appreciate "technically better" suggestions.

[cespare]

On the surface it sounds good. How hard is it to implement? I'd be interested in running it over my code if you have some prototype.

[dominikh]

@cespare should be easy enough to implement, and I'll definitely create a prototype before deciding on this issue. I'll let you know when there's something to test (but that will still be a while.)

[ainar-g]

As long as the check will take into account const vs. var quirks, like the ones in #833 and golang/go#28591, I'm all for it.

[dominikh]

Another quirk to be mindful of: negative zero floating point.

[Jacalz]

I think this is a great idea. Recently, I have come across quite a few cases where values are declared as variables even though they ideally should be constants. All my cases have been global variables but I suppose that it could be useful for function-local variables as well.