Passing a struct by ref

[javaeyes]

I have a pretty large and complex struct in my program. I am passing it into multiple functions (or methods), which is it in c? Anyways i am wondering if because the struct is so large, i should (or can) pass them by reference with a pointer into the functions. I think some languages do this automatically even if you pass a variable in. I think this will affect the performance which is cpu and disk i/o intensive. Thank you.

[laserlight]

Anyways i am wondering if because the struct is so large, i should (or can) pass them by reference with a pointer into the functions.

Yes, you should.

[quzah]

I think this will affect the performance which is cpu and disk i/o intensive. Thank you.

This is strictly a memory usage issue. Not a disk or CPU issue.


Quzah.

[javaeyes]

Thanks, laser and quzah.

-tim

[oogabooga]

Firstly, in C they're called "functions".

Secondly, since passing a large struct by pointer ("reference") will save some CPU cycles that would otherwise be needed to make a copy, it is somewhat of a CPU issue.

[javaeyes]

thanks ooga