Thread: Pointers v References

  1. #1
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    Pointers v References

    I must admit that the nuance between these two escapes me.

    I understand the syntactical differences between using the two, but I do not understand how and when one is more useful than the other.

    Can someone please either explain or point me to a good explanation on this subject? I.e. specifically one contrasting pointers and references, not just separate documentation for pointers and references.

    Thanks!

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    You can think of a reference as basically the same thing as a const pointer, except that it 'implicitly' dereferences itself when you try to write to it or read from it.

    That is, you never have to worry about using dereference or address-of operators with references, so functions can take parameters by reference, and also return by reference, and do it 'behind the scenes'.

    References are usually easier to use for this reason, and because they always point to valid memory and cannot be rebound to another location, they're much safer than pointers.
    Last edited by rudyman; 06-29-2008 at 02:21 PM.

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    You never have to check a reference for null. That is a big difference. Going the other way, you can't assign null to a reference, so you can't use it for an optional parameter.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Daved View Post
    ... you can't assign null to a reference ...
    Well, you can assign null to a reference whose type is 'const [typeof(NULL)]&', which would essentially create an alias for NULL. But yes, a reference is guaranteed to refer to a valid object, and it is implicitly const and therefore cannot be rebound like pointers.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by rudyman View Post
    'const [typeof(NULL)]&'
    What the holy hell is that???

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    My compiler says that typeof NULL is const int, so it would be valid to say 'const int& null_ref = NULL;', although that isn't portable code, yet.
    Last edited by rudyman; 06-29-2008 at 03:58 PM.

  7. #7
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    NULL in C++ is defined as 0.
    const int& null_ref = NULL is valid and portable, but it will create a temporary int to hold 0.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

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    And why would one want to do that anyways...

  9. #9
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    You can think of a pointer as a variable holding a memory address, and a reference as an alias name for an object. The implementation of the two may be the same, but the implementation is irrelevant when it comes to thinking about them.

    Thus, a pointer is used when you deal with memory - dynamically allocated objects (new and delete) and iteration over an array come to mind.
    You use a reference when you deal with aliases, mostly in parameter passing if you don't want to copy the argument.
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    Quote Originally Posted by rudyman View Post
    My compiler says that typeof NULL is const int, so it would be valid to say 'const int& null_ref = NULL;', although that isn't portable code, yet.
    That is in actual fact, uncompileable rubbish.
    There is no such thing as a null-reference, the standard says so!

    Things with references that differ from pointers:
    1. A reference cannot be null
    2. A reference must be assigned upon creation
    3. A reference cannot be changed to refer to something else
    4. A const reference is the only thing that can extend the lifetime of a temporary object
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    That is in actual fact, uncompileable rubbish.
    There is no such thing as a null-reference, the standard says so!
    Actually, it is not the same as a "null reference". It is merely a const reference to an int that is bound to an integer literal. Since const references may be bound to rvalues, this is legal (and thus compilable), as Elysia has pointed out. It is still rubbish in the sense that NULL is intended as a null pointer constant, so initialising an int reference with it is not semantically correct.
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  12. #12
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    It just doesn't mean what rudyman thinks it means.
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  13. #13
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    But you can emulate a reference!
    Thus it's possible to create a "null reference"
    Well, bad idea anyway. Most will disagree with such approaches.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CornedBee View Post
    It just doesn't mean what rudyman thinks it means.
    If null is defined as 0, and you can create a reference to 0, then you can create a reference to null. I somehow managed to say that in the most poorly worded way possible, but I was just pointing out that although technically there's no reason or use for it, it is possible to assign and check a reference to be null.
    Last edited by rudyman; 06-30-2008 at 09:51 AM.

  15. #15
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    If null is defined as 0, and you can create a reference to 0, then you can create a reference to null. I somehow managed to say that in the most poorly worded way possible, but I was just pointing out that although technically there's no reason or use for it, it is possible to assign and check a reference to be null.
    I think that your wording is fine, but you should have clarified Daved's wording outright instead of trying to be funny by taking it literally. Clearly, Daved meant that while there are null pointers, there are no null references since references always refer to objects (though due to a programming error they might "refer" to an object that no longer exists, but this would be in the realm of undefined behaviour, if I remember correctly).
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

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