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In the C++ programming language, a reference is a simple reference datatype that is less powerful but safer than the pointer type inherited from C.The name C++ reference may cause confusion, as in computer science a reference is a general concept datatype, with pointers and C++ references being specific reference datatype implementations.
A reference variable, once declared and bound, behaves as an alias of the original variable, but it can also be rebounded to another variable by using the reference assignment operator = ref. The variable itself can be of any type, including value types and reference types, i.e. by passing a variable of a reference type by reference (alias) to ...
C++ also supports another form of reference, quite different from a pointer, called simply a reference or reference type. Pointer arithmetic , that is, the ability to modify a pointer's target address with arithmetic operations (as well as magnitude comparisons), is restricted by the language standard to remain within the bounds of a single ...
In particular, a reference may point to a variable or record that contains references to other data. This idea is the basis of indirect addressing and of many linked data structures, such as linked lists. References increase flexibility in where objects can be stored, how they are allocated, and how they are passed between areas of code. As ...
This feature was eventually removed, and now this in C++ is an r-value. [9] Early versions of C++ did not include references and it has been suggested that had they been so in C++ from the beginning, this would have been a reference, not a pointer. [10] C++ lets objects destroy themselves with the source code statement: delete this.
The choice of a variable name should be mnemonic — that is, designed to indicate to the casual observer the intent of its use. One-character variable names should be avoided except for temporary "throwaway" variables. Common names for temporary variables are i, j, k, m, and n for integers; c, d, and e for characters. int i;
because the argument to f must be a variable integer, but i is a constant integer. This matching is a form of program correctness, and is known as const-correctness.This allows a form of programming by contract, where functions specify as part of their type signature whether they modify their arguments or not, and whether their return value is modifiable or not.
immutable is a stronger variant of const, indicating data that can never change its value, while const indicates data that cannot be changed through this reference: it is a constant view on possibly mutable data. shared is used for shared data in multi-threading (as volatile was briefly used for in C++).