Slice vs []byte equality in golang

equals_test.go

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"crypto/rand"
	"slices"
	"testing"
)

// generateRandomByteSlice generates a random byte slice of the given size.
func generateRandomByteSlice(size int) []byte {
	slice := make([]byte, size)
	if _, err := rand.Read(slice); err != nil {
		panic("failed to generate random byte slice: " + err.Error())
	}
	return slice
}

var (
	// Generate 5KB random byte slices once for all benchmarks to use.
	a = generateRandomByteSlice(5 * 1024) // 5KB
)

// BenchmarkBytesEqual benchmarks the bytes.Equal function for the same 5KB random byte slices.
func BenchmarkBytesEqual(b *testing.B) {
	b.ResetTimer() // Ensure the setup time is not included.
	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
		_ = bytes.Equal(a, a)
	}
}

// BenchmarkSlicesEqualByteSlice benchmarks the slices.Equal function for the same 5KB random byte slices.
func BenchmarkSlicesEqualByteSlice(b *testing.B) {
	b.ResetTimer() // Reset the timer to exclude setup time from the benchmark.
	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
		_ = slices.Equal(a, a)
	}
}

gistfile1.txt

$ go test -bench Equal
goos: darwin
goarch: amd64
pkg: otpguard
cpu: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
BenchmarkBytesEqual-12              	1000000000	         0.2457 ns/op
BenchmarkSlicesEqualByteSlice-12    	  482109	      2485 ns/op
PASS
ok  	otpguard	2.780s