Allow for certain values to always be properly initialized on construction -- namely the maps for now. I'm currently working on a change that requires a baseline constructor; this change would make the use of `chansync.BroadcastCond` and `chansync.SetOnce` obsolete -- i.e. one can have channel members without worrying about proper initialization/destruction of a `chan struct{}`.
As for why `makeClient` returns a value instead of a pointer: returning a value gives us more options -- you can always take a pointer from a value later on cheaply, and have things moved to the heap if they weren't already. The same can't be said about getting a value back from a pointer. GC also could potentially have less work to do. Plus I personally find ownership to be an important concept (semi-borrowed from rust) -- use of values make ownership clear.
Matt Joiner