& before a function

[Jianli Shen]

Bitvector& ClassName::functionName(Basicblock* bb)

what's the & means here,
is that return a pointer to a Bitvector variable for future use.

Thanks.


--
Sincerely,
Jianli Shen

===================================
Georgia Tech, College of Computing
801 Atlantic Dr, Atlanta, GA 30332
Email: (e-mail address removed)
===================================

 

[Tim Love]

Bitvector& ClassName::functionName(Basicblock* bb)

what's the & means here,
is that return a pointer to a Bitvector variable for future use.

Not a pointer, a reference.

 

[David White]

Bitvector& ClassName::functionName(Basicblock* bb)

what's the & means here,
is that return a pointer to a Bitvector variable for future use.

No, it returns a _reference_ to a Bitvector for future use. The & as part of
a type declaration is unrelated to the & operation that takes the address of
an object. You can always tell what & means from the context (ignoring
operator overloads). In a type declaration it's always a reference, and in
an expression it's either the unary address-of operation or the binary
bitwise AND operation.

DW

 

[Marcin Kaliciñski]

an object. You can always tell what & means from the context (ignoring

operator overloads). In a type declaration it's always a reference, and in
an expression it's either the unary address-of operation or the binary
bitwise AND operation.

& can mean reference also in expressions (type casts), not only in
declarations.

M