:= in go means "declare this variable and infer it's type" You can always use i E = range e or similar, also range is not a function, it's part of go's syntax

:= in go means "declare this variable and infer it's type" You can always use i E = range e or similar, also range is not a function, it's part of go's syntax and always takes one argument. You don't need parens for the unary - operator. Go does have different syntax from most C derived languages, but the differences are there for a reason. You need to learn any language to understand it.