What are the differences between string data type and byte array in programming?

In programming, string data type and byte array differ in their purpose and internal representation:

• String — a sequence of characters, usually represented in UTF-8 or UTF-16 encoding. Strings are intended for storing and processing textual information.

• Byte array ([]byte in Go) — a sequence of bytes that can represent any data: text, images, audio, binary formats, etc.

In Go, strings are immutable, whereas byte arrays can be modified. To convert a string to a byte array, use []byte(str), and to convert back — string(bytes).

Example:

s := "Hello"
bytes := []byte(s) // convert string to bytes
s2 := string(bytes) // convert back to string

Thus, strings are convenient for working with text, and byte arrays are suitable for low-level data processing.