[openbeos] Re: Pointer or reference?
- From: "Waldemar Kornewald" <Waldemar.Kornewald@xxxxxx>
- To: <openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 19:32:32 +0100
> > So, I would say, for public APIs (or those that may become public in the
> > future), references should be avoided.
>
> Sadly, I have to agree.
References have the advantage that the function/method already says it does not
accept NULL pointers. The data must always be defined.
Additionally, when passing a BString object it is much better to pass the
reference because you cannot forget the &-sign and the code looks nicer:
BString string;
...
control->SetLabel(string);
versus
control->SetLabel(&string);
I really prefer the reference version. It could also state that the SetLabel()
method does not have side-effect (i.e.: it does not modify string) which could
be useful sometimes.
Bye,
Waldemar
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