The difference between references and pointers in c++

References and pointers are mechanisms used to handle memory addresses. References are bound at compile time, always point to the same memory address, and share the same memory space as the object. Pointers are bound at runtime and can point to different memory addresses and do not share the same memory space with the object. References are used to manipulate objects without modifying them, while pointers are used to handle dynamically allocated memory or modify objects.

The difference between references and pointers in C

In C, both references and pointers are used to deal with memory mechanisms of addresses, but they have different characteristics and usage.

Reference

• A reference is bound at compile time, which means it always points to the same memory address.
• Once a reference is created, it cannot be reassigned to another memory address.
• A reference shares the same memory space as the object it refers to, so modifications to the reference will also modify the object itself.

Pointer

• The pointer is bound at runtime, which means it can point to different memory addresses.
• Pointers can be reassigned to other memory addresses.
• The pointer points to an object, so modifications to the pointer do not modify the object itself.

Summary

Features	Reference	Pointer
Binding time	Compile time	Run time
Reassignable	No	Yes
Shared memory with the object	Yes	No

When to use references

• When you need to manipulate an object without modifying the object itself.
• When you need to ensure that it always points to the same memory address.

When to use pointers

• When you need to deal with dynamically allocated memory (such as via new).
• When memory addresses need to be passed between different objects.
• When you need to modify the object pointed to by the pointer.

The above is the detailed content of The difference between references and pointers in c++. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!