Reference Variable in C++ PDF

PDF Name	Reference Variable in C++
No. of Pages	2
PDF Size	0.03 MB
Language	English
PDF Category	Education & Jobs
Source / Credits	tutorialspoint.com
Uploaded By	Pradeep

Reference Variable in C++ - Summary

Reference variables in C++ are a powerful feature that enables you to create an alias for an existing variable. Think of a reference as a nickname for another variable. For instance, if you create a reference called peter for a variable named paul, you can use either name to refer to the same data.

Understanding Reference Variables in C++

A reference variable in C++ acts like a pointer to an object of a specific class, allowing you to easily access and manipulate the value of that object. For example, when you retrieve a row from a database table, you can combine all values from that row into a single object before passing that object to a function or procedure for further processing.

Key Differences Between References and Pointers

It’s crucial to understand that references are often confused with pointers. Here are three important differences:

You cannot have NULL references; a reference must always link to a valid piece of storage.
Once a reference is initialized to an object, it cannot change to point to another object.
While pointers can point to another object at any time, a reference must be initialized when it is created.

A reference variable is a variable that points to an object of a given class, allowing you to access the value of that object. An object is a compound data structure that holds values you can manipulate. A reference variable does not store its own values. Instead, when you reference the reference variable, OpenROAD uses the values in the corresponding object. The object is made up of attributes, which can be simple variables, reference variables, or array variables.

The class of an object defines its attributes. OpenROAD includes both system classes and user-defined classes.

In your 4GL code, when you reference a reference variable, you can work with the entire object as a single unit. For instance, you can retrieve a row from a database table and assign all values from that row to a single object, then pass that object to a called procedure. You can also work with the individual attributes in the object.

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