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C always uses 'pass by value' to pass arguments to functions (another term is 'call by value', which means the same thing), which means the code within a function cannot alter the arguments used to call the function, even if the values are changed inside the function.
Passing by by reference refers to a method of passing the address of an argument in the calling function to a corresponding parameter in the called function. In C, the corresponding parameter in the called function must be declared as a pointer type.
The C Language Reference describes the C programming language as implemented in Microsoft C. The book's organization is based on the ANSI C standard (sometimes referred to as C89) with additional material on the Microsoft extensions to the ANSI C standard.
I have encountered a working (with XLC8 and MSFT9 compilers) piece of code, containing a C++ file with a function defined with C linkage and a reference argument. This bugs me, as references are C++ only. The function in question is called from C code, where it is declared as taking a pointer argument to the same type in place of the reference argument.
Simplified example:
C++ file:
extern "C" void f(int &i)
{
i++;
}
C file:
void f(int *);
int main()
{
int a = 2;
f(&a);
printf("%d\n", a); /* Prints 3 */
}
Now, the word on the street is that most C++ compilers, under the hood, implement references just like a pointer. Is it like that and just pure luck the reason this code works or does it say somewhere in the C++ specification what the result is when you define a function with a reference argument and C linkage? I haven't been able to find any information on this.
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