Okay, macros. Either way, it provides what most people are asking for in generics (not you, perhaps), even if the implementation isn't exactly pleasant. From a practical standpoint, there really isn't a whole lot of difference in utilizing max (other than the ugliness):

    # Common pattern in other languages
    max<int>(1, 2)

    # Similar pattern in Go
    #go:generate gofmt -r 'T -> int' -w max.go
    max(1, 2)

But yes, "true" generics are much more complicated (and arguably impossible in Go without major changes to the language), I realize. A number of languages that even claim to have generics fall short on that front, which is a path the Go authors have said they do not want to go down.

Although you do have me curious how you'd implement max in C in this type-safe way using standard tooling:

    #define max(a, b) (a > b ? a : b)

...obviously wouldn't fit the bill since it doesn't enforce types like to Go version does.