Thread: Passing structure by reference or pointer?

Given the structure below:-

Code:

typedef struct {
 int a;
 word b;
} process;

By reference:-

Code:

main()
{
 process work;
 /* init structure variable */
 ...
 do_something( &work );
 ...
}

By pointer:-

Code:

main()
{
 process work;
 process *ptr_work = &work;

 /* init structure variable */
 ...
 do_something( ptr_work );
 ...
}

Which would be an optimal performance approach if I want to pass a structure into a function?

Also, some reading up here and there came across to a site that says "by reference" is a C++ solution (see http://cplus.about.com/od/cprogrammi.../aa010402a.htm ). I have this impression that it is available in C as well, so the other question I have is if it is really a C++ approach, does that mean most, if not all, C compilers would give me error if I use by reference method?