Question

I’ve never had problems with references as in Python (implicit) or PHP (explicit &). In PHP you write $p = &$myvar; and you have $p as a reference pointing to $myVar.

So I know in C++ you can do this:

void setToSomething( int& var )
{
 var = 123;
}
int myInt;
setToSomething( myInt );

• myInt is now 123, why?

Doesn’t & mean “memory address of” x in C++? What do I do then if var is only the address to myInt and not a pointer?

void setToSomething( int* var )
{
 *var = 123;
}
int myInt;
int* myIntPtr = &myInt;
setToSomething( myIntPtr );

• Does the above work as expected?

I don’t understand the difference between * and & in C++ fully. They tell you & is used to get the address of a variable, but why does that help you in functions etc. Like in the first example?

Answer 1

In the first example, & is used to declare a reference type.
It’s not the same thing as the & operator which is used to get an object’s address.

You can view a reference type as a type which uses under the covers a pointer which can never be NULL.