Function arguments, pass by pointer or reference?

Which do you think is best? or cons/pros of each of passing by pointer vs passing by reference.

 

Passing arguments by pointers allows the function to change our data in the pointed address..

Passing by reference allows us to safeguard our data...

Now lets test it :-

function.c

Code:

#include<stdio.h>

void passByPointer(int * input)
{
	*input = 100;
}
void passByReference(int input)
{
	input = 1337;
}

int main()
{
	int NumberToTest = 1337;
	printf("Input = %d\n",NumberToTest);
	passByPointer(&NumberToTest);		// change to 100
	printf("Input = %d\n",NumberToTest); // should turn to 100
	passByReference(NumberToTest);		
	printf("Input = %d\n",NumberToTest); // Should be unchanged still will be 100
	return(0);
}

Compiling

Code:

gcc function.c -o function

Running :-

Code:

aneesh@aneesh-laptop:~/Programming/C$ ./function 
Input = 1337
Input = 100
Input = 100

Hope this helps...

 

Neither is better; they are different tools for different jobs. You may as well ask which is better out of a hammer and a screwdriver.

 

Yes...
Sorry about that!!!

 

There really is no best, you have to know why you're passing by that choice when you create the function. One advantage of pass by pointer is you can set them to NULL to represent different things in your function while references have to point to an object even though that object might not be valid.


Allen LeVan
UAT Student