Beginner's Question

I was just reading through C++ Annotations and I am at the point where the author is starting with classes. I noticed that the author declares one of the member functions

Code:

---

std::string const &name() const;

---

and I was wondering what would be the ultimate difference if

Code:

---

std::string const name() const;

---

was used instead. The function just returns the name but I am curious as to what this would mean with a more complex function.

Thanks in advance,

M

Oh, is the & symbol referring to the return value? This might just be a reading issue for me but I just wanted to make sure.

M

Yes, it says that name() returns a const reference.

Thank you much.