Question

Can I use a reference variable for c (e.g., Customer &c) instead? If so how? And is this preferable to using a pointer variable?

    for(std::vector<Customer*>::const_iterator it = customers_.begin();
        it != customers_.end() ; it ++)
    {
        Customer *c = (*it);
        c->PrintName();
        ...
    }

Answer 1

Yes:

for(std::vector<Customer*>::const_iterator it = customers_.begin();
    it != customers_.end() ; it ++)
{
    Customer &c = *(*it);
    c.PrintName();
    ...
}

(The parentheses aren’t necessary, but may make it clearer.)