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HOLY SHIT!! IS THAT A MOTHERF*CKING C++ REFERENCE???
int& a = b;
this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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I don't think references are variables: you can't modify them, and AFAIR you can't have pointers to them, with the possible but unlikely exception of non-static member references.
An
int&reference is just as much of a variable asint* constwould be (a const pointer to a non-const int). "Variable" might be a misnomer here, but it takes just as much memory as any other pointer.For references within a scope, you’re probably right. For references that cross scope boundaries (i.e. function parameters), they necessarily must consume memory (or a register). Passing a parameter to a function call consumes memory or a register by definition. If a function call is inlined, that means its instructions are copy-pasted to the call location so there’s no actual call in the compiled code.