Question

In C, if I have a tree or linked list, I have to declare a function for insertion like

insert(Node ** node) 

so I can insert a new root/head.
My question is, how to write it with references in C++?

Answer 1

You would write the function as

ReturnType insert(Node* &node)

That is, the parameter is a reference to the Node* variable holding the root of the tree. From there, you would proceed as usual, except that compared with the C version of the function you wouldn’t need to dereference node to reassign the root For example, if you were to write the following in the initial (C) version of the code:

*node = /* ... something ... */

You would just write

node = /* ... something ... */

in the updated version of the code.

Hope this helps!