Are there benefits of passing by pointer over passing by reference in C++?

Question

What are the benefits of passing by pointer over passing by reference in C++?

Lately, I have seen a number of examples that chose passing function arguments by pointers instead of passing by reference. Are there benefits to doing this?

Example:

func(SPRITE *x);

with a call of

func(&mySprite);

vs.

func(SPRITE &x);

with a call of

func(mySprite);

Answer 1

A pointer can receive a NULL parameter, a reference parameter can not. If there's ever a chance that you could want to pass "no object", then use a pointer instead of a reference.

Also, passing by pointer allows you to explicitly see at the call site whether the object is passed by value or by reference:

// Is mySprite passed by value or by reference?  You can't tell 
// without looking at the definition of func()
func(mySprite);

// func2 passes "by pointer" - no need to look up function definition
func2(&mySprite);

Answer 2

Passing by pointer

• Caller has to take the address -> not transparent
• A 0 value can be provided to mean nothing. This can be used to provide optional arguments.

Pass by reference

• Caller just passes the object -> transparent. Has to be used for operator overloading, since overloading for pointer types is not possible (pointers are builtin types). So you can't do string s = &str1 + &str2; using pointers.
• No 0 values possible -> Called function doesn't have to check for them
• Reference to const also accepts temporaries: void f(const T& t); ... f(T(a, b, c));, pointers cannot be used like that since you cannot take the address of a temporary.
• Last but not least, references are easier to use -> less chance for bugs.

Answer 3

Allen Holub's "Enough Rope to Shoot Yourself in the Foot" lists the following 2 rules:

120. Reference arguments should always be `const`
121. Never use references as outputs, use pointers

He lists several reasons why references were added to C++:

• they are necessary to define copy constructors
• they are necessary for operator overloads
• const references allow you to have pass-by-value semantics while avoiding a copy

His main point is that references should not be used as 'output' parameters because at the call site there's no indication of whether the parameter is a reference or a value parameter. So his rule is to only use const references as arguments.

Personally, I think this is a good rule of thumb as it makes it more clear when a parameter is an output parameter or not. However, while I personally agree with this in general, I do allow myself to be swayed by the opinions of others on my team if they argue for output parameters as references (some developers like them immensely).

Answer 4

I like the reasoning by an article from "cplusplus.com:"

1. Pass by value when the function does not want to modify the parameter and the value is easy to copy (ints, doubles, char, bool, etc... simple types. std::string, std::vector, and all other STL containers are NOT simple types.)

2. Pass by const pointer when the value is expensive to copy AND the function does not want to modify the value pointed to AND NULL is a valid, expected value that the function handles.

3. Pass by non-const pointer when the value is expensive to copy AND the function wants to modify the value pointed to AND NULL is a valid, expected value that the function handles.

4. Pass by const reference when the value is expensive to copy AND the function does not want to modify the value referred to AND NULL would not be a valid value if a pointer was used instead.

5. Pass by non-cont reference when the value is expensive to copy AND the function wants to modify the value referred to AND NULL would not be a valid value if a pointer was used instead.

6. When writing template functions, there isn't a clear-cut answer because there are a few tradeoffs to consider that are beyond the scope of this discussion, but suffice it to say that most template functions take their parameters by value or (const) reference, however because iterator syntax is similar to that of pointers (asterisk to "dereference"), any template function that expects iterators as arguments will also by default accept pointers as well (and not check for NULL since the NULL iterator concept has a different syntax).

http://www.cplusplus.com/articles/z6vU7k9E/

What I take from this is that the major difference between choosing to use a pointer or reference parameter is if NULL is an acceptable value. That's it.

Whether the value is input, output, modifiable etc. should be in the documentation / comments about the function, after all.

Answer 5

Clarifications to the preceding posts:

---

References are NOT a guarantee of getting a non-null pointer. (Though we often treat them as such.)

While horrifically bad code, as in take you out behind the woodshed bad code, the following will compile & run: (At least under my compiler.)

bool test( int & a)
{
  return (&a) == (int *) NULL;
}

int
main()
{
  int * i = (int *)NULL;
  cout << ( test(*i) ) << endl;
};

---

The real issue I have with references lies with other programmers, henceforth termed IDIOTS, who allocate in the constructor, deallocate in the destructor, and fail to supply a copy constructor or operator=().

Suddenly there's a world of difference between foo(BAR bar) and foo(BAR & bar). (Automatic bitwise copy operation gets invoked. Deallocation in destructor gets invoked twice.)

Thankfully modern compilers will pick up this double-deallocation of the same pointer. 15 years ago, they didn't. (Under gcc/g++, use setenv MALLOC_CHECK_ 0 to revisit the old ways.) Resulting, under DEC UNIX, in the same memory being allocated to two different objects. Lots of debugging fun there...

---

More practically:

• References hide that you are changing data stored someplace else.
• It's easy to confuse a Reference with a Copied object.
• Pointers make it obvious!

Answer 6

Not really. Internally, passing by reference is performed by essentially passing the address of the referenced object. So, there really aren't any efficiency gains to be had by passing a pointer.

Passing by reference does have one benefit, however. You are guaranteed to have an instance of whatever object/type that is being passed in. If you pass in a pointer, then you run the risk of receiving a NULL pointer. By using pass-by-reference, you are pushing an implicit NULL-check up one level to the caller of your function.