Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!jima
From: jima@hplsla.HP.COM (Jim Adcock)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: using references vrs. pointers
Message-ID: <6590087@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: 27 Jan 89 18:10:06 GMT
References: <417@vilya.UUCP>
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 17

> Any comments?

Sounds like dogma to me.  Good pointer support is much of what makes C
and C++ more efficient than other languages.  I believe that one needs
to feel comfortable with the duality of thinking of an object either
as a chunk of memory, or as the address of that chunk of memory.  Both
interpretations of an "object" have their usefulness.  Using and understanding
both interpretations need not lead to wild confusion.

The question remains in my mind -- in general should a class implementer write 
public methods that pass by reference, or pass a pointer? [For methods requiring
more than one object.]  I think in general objects should be passed by
reference, not by pointer.  In the internal implementation of those methods
the class implementator should feel free to use either pointers or references,
whichever is most suitable to the task at hand.

Comments?