Functions: Passing pointers vs by reference

dlp · #1 05-Nov-2007, 04:36

Hey All,

I was wondering something. Fundamentally, is there anything different between passing a pointer and passing something by reference? For example:

CPP / C++ / C Code:

void func_with_ptr( int * a )
{
    *a = 5;
}

void func_by_ref( int & a )
{
    a = 5;
}

I know, at least in this case, they are functionally the same. I was wondering what about behind the scenes? Does C++ basically just do a bunch of mojo that when compiled, references are properly replaced with their pointer equivalents?

I was also wondering what happens when you return something by reference? The easiest example is an overload for the << operator to an ostream.

CPP / C++ / C Code:

struct test
{
    int a;
    double b;
};

ostream & operator<<( ostream & out, const test & t)
{
    out << t.a << '\t' << t.b;
    return out;
}

When a reference is returned, is that an address ala a pointer?

Thanks.

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