reference to a pointer

[sam_cit]

Hi Everyone,

I just came to know about a declartion, namely reference to a pointer
like the following,

int *&p; //p is a reference to a pointer to an integer

Is this valid only in C++ and not in C?

and i also came to know that there is a difference between call by
address and call by reference, can anyone tell me the exact difference?

 

[Richard Heathfield]

(e-mail address removed) said:

Hi Everyone,

I just came to know about a declartion, namely reference to a pointer
like the following,

int *&p; //p is a reference to a pointer to an integer

Is this valid only in C++ and not in C?

Whether it is valid in C++ is a question for a C++ reference book. It is not
valid in C.

and i also came to know that there is a difference between call by
address and call by reference, can anyone tell me the exact difference?

C does call-by-value. Always.

 

[Chris Dollin]

Hi Everyone,

I just came to know about a declartion, namely reference to a pointer
like the following,

int *&p; //p is a reference to a pointer to an integer

Is this valid only in C++ and not in C?

It's not valid C: C doesn't support a C++-style reference type.

and i also came to know that there is a difference between call by
address and call by reference, can anyone tell me the exact difference?

Suppose we have

int cbr( int REFERENCE x ) { x += 1; }

... int b = 16; cbr( b ); assert (b == 17); [1] ...

in some neuromatic C language with reference arguments. The
variable `x` is a reference to whatever variable is given
as actual argument: changing `x` changes the argument (and
vice-versa). Hence incrementing `x` increments `b`.

If we eliminate the REFERENCE magic, then assigning to `x`
doesn't affect the actual argument variable, and the assert
won't.

The user of the term "call by address" that I have seen (and
may have used ... beware circularity) looks like:

int cba( int *x ) { *x += 1; }

... cbr( &b ); ...

The address of the object is explicitly passed and the
indirect manipulation of that object is signalled by the
`*` operator.

"Call by address" is what C (programmers) use(s) to compensate
for C not having "call by reference".

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[1] A fake `assert` keyword. Pretend its the macro or
a printf or whatever.