How to create a three-dimensional array in Golang

I'm trying to create a three-dimensional array which contains blocks (like a rubiks-cube).

I tried many things but I can't get it to work.

func generateTiles(x int, y int, z int) [][][]*tile{
  var tiles [][][]*tile
  
  // Something here
  // resulting in a x by y by z array
  // filled with *tile
  
  return tiles
}

Any suggestions?

You have to initialize each layer on its own. Example (on play):

tiles = make([][][]*tile, x)

for i := range tiles {
	tiles[i] = make([][]*tile, y)
	for j := range tiles[i] {
		tiles[i][j] = make([]*tile, z)
	}
}

I'd personally use a 1D slice for performance reasons, I'm adding this as an alternative:

type Tile struct {
x, y, z int
}
type Tiles struct {
t       []*Tile
w, h, d int
}
func New(w, h, d int) *Tiles {
return &Tiles{
t: make([]*Tile, w*h*d),
w: w,
h: h,
d: d,
}
}
// indexing based on http://stackoverflow.com/a/20266350/145587
func (t *Tiles) At(x, y, z int) *Tile {
idx := t.h*t.w*z + t.w*y
return t.t[idx+x]
}
func (t *Tiles) Set(x, y, z int, val *Tile) {
idx := t.h*t.w*z + t.w*y
t.t[idx+x] = val
}
func fillTiles(w int, h int, d int) *Tiles {
tiles := New(w, h, d)
for x := 0; x < w; x++ {
for y := 0; y < h; y++ {
for z := 0; z < d; z++ {
tiles.Set(x, y, z, &Tile{x, y, z})
}
}
}
return tiles
}

<kbd>playground</kbd>

There is an example for creating a two dimensional array on GoByExample: https://gobyexample.com/arrays. You should be able to expand that into a three dimensional case.

Here is what I came up with.

CODE

package main
import (
"fmt"
)
type Tile struct {
value int
}
func create3D( x, y, z int) [][][]*Tile {
result := make([][][]*Tile,x)
for i := 0 ; i < x ; i++ {
result[i] = make([][]*Tile,y);
for j := 0; j < y; j++ {
result[i][j] = make([]*Tile,z);
for k := 0 ; k < z; k++ {
result[i][j][k] = new(Tile)
result[i][j][k].value = i + j + k;
}
}
}
return result
}
func main() {
X := 3
Y := 4
Z := 5
mat := create3D( X , Y , Z);
for i := 0; i < X; i++ {
for j := 0 ; j < Y; j++ {
for k := 0 ; k < Z; k++ {
fmt.Printf("%d ",mat[i][j][k].value)
}
fmt.Println();
}
fmt.Println();
}
}

It works like this, but to me this feels very inefficient. Using the append-operation this many times. And it feels bloated, this should be possible in a simpler way.

func generateTiles(x int, y int, z int) [][][]*tile {
var tiles [][][]*tile
for i := 0; i < z; i++ {
var layer [][]*tile
for j := 0; j < y; j++ {
var row []*tile
for k := 0; k < x; k++ {
var t *tile
t = &tile{}
row = append(row, t)
count++
}
layer = append(layer, row)
}
tiles = append(tiles, layer)
}
return tiles
}