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Lesson Proper For Week 10: Pass-By-Reference

C++ WEEK 10 LESSON

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Ralph Lawrenze
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19 views

Lesson Proper For Week 10: Pass-By-Reference

C++ WEEK 10 LESSON

Uploaded by

Ralph Lawrenze
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson Proper for Week 10

PASS-BY-REFERENCE

A reference variable is an alias, that is, another name for an already existing variable. Once a
reference is initialized with a variable, either the variable name or the reference name may be used
to refer to the variable.

References vs Pointers
References are often confused with pointers but three major differences between references and
pointers are −

·         You cannot have NULL references. You must always be able to assume that a reference is
connected to a legitimate piece of storage.

·         Once a reference is initialized to an object, it cannot be changed to refer to another object.


Pointers can be pointed to another object at any time.

·         A reference must be initialized when it is created. Pointers can be initialized at any time.

 
Creating References in C++
Think of a variable name as a label attached to the variable's location in memory. You can then think
of a reference as a second label attached to that memory location. Therefore, you can access the
contents of the variable through either the original variable name or the reference. For example,
suppose we have the following example −

int i = 17;

We can declare reference variables for i as follows.

int& r = i;

Read the & in these declarations as reference. Thus, read the first declaration as "r is an integer
reference initialized to i" and read the second declaration as "s is a double reference initialized to
d.". Following example makes use of references on int and double −

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;


int main () {

   // declare simple variables

   int    i;

   double d;

   // declare reference variables

   int&    r = i;

   double& s = d;

  

   i = 5;

   cout << "Value of i : " << i << endl;

   cout << "Value of i reference : " << r  << endl;

   d = 11.7;

   cout << "Value of d : " << d << endl;

   cout << "Value of d reference : " << s  << endl;

  

   return 0;

When the above code is compiled together and executed, it produces the following result −

Value of i : 5

Value of i reference : 5

Value of d : 11.7

Value of d reference : 11.7

References are usually used for function argument lists and function return values. So following are
two important subjects related to C++ references which should be clear to a C++ programmer −

Sr.N Concept & Description


o
1 References as Parameters
C++ supports passing references as function parameter more safely than
parameters.
2 Reference as Return Value
You can return reference from a C++ function like any other data type.
 

RETURN VALUES
The  void  keyword, used in the previous examples, indicates that the function should not return a
value. If you want the function to return a value, you can use a data type (such as  int ,  string , etc.)
instead of  void , and use the  return  keyword inside the function:

Example:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int myFunction(int x) {

  return 5 + x;

int main() {

  cout << myFunction(3);

  return 0;

This example returns the sum of a function with two parameters:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int myFunction(int x, int y) {

  return x + y;

int main() {

  cout << myFunction(5, 3);


  return 0;

You can also store the result in a variable:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int myFunction(int x, int y) {

  return x + y;

int main() {

  int z = myFunction(5, 3);

  cout << z;

  return 0;

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