That boiler plate usually can be generated for you. See Go's stringer which does all the magic for you. All you have to do is define the type and constants, and a go generate directive.
Code generation is always the last resort.
Where I work we are a go house, and the number of tools I've seen in our pre-commit configurations and in our development environment setup scripts is pretty intense. So is the number of questions around said tooling. There's a lot more friction than I'd expect. I can't even use lack of experience as an excuse for these questions because they're really talented people. Some of them have worked on the product for years, and have literally moulded the product's tooling into what it is today.
// pill.go
package painkiller
//go:generate stringer -type=Pill
type Pill int
const (
Placebo Pill = iota
Aspirin
Ibuprofen
Paracetamol
Acetaminophen = Paracetamol
)
$ cat pill_string.go
// Code generated by "stringer -type=Pill"; DO NOT EDIT.
package painkiller
import "strconv"
func _() {
// An "invalid array index" compiler error signifies that the constant values have changed.
// Re-run the stringer command to generate them again.
var x [1]struct{}
_ = x[Placebo-0]
_ = x[Aspirin-1]
_ = x[Ibuprofen-2]
_ = x[Paracetamol-3]
}
const _Pill_name = "PlaceboAspirinIbuprofenParacetamol"
var _Pill_index = [...]uint8{0, 7, 14, 23, 34}
func (i Pill) String() string {
if i < 0 || i >= Pill(len(_Pill_index)-1) {
return "Pill(" + strconv.FormatInt(int64(i), 10) + ")"
}
return _Pill_name[_Pill_index[i]:_Pill_index[i+1]]
}