How to assign to a variable an alias

Question

I want to call the same variable with a different name, how can I assign it an alias?

Do I stick to using a macro, like

#DEFINE Variable Alias

In summary:

1. I prefer to apply it in C
2. I have a signal which can be more than one type of variable (temperature, distance, etc..)
3. I want to assign more than one alias to that signal

---

I'm currently doing it in C using functions as the method for renaming.

So given the variable: int signal

I'd do the following

int Temperature(){return signal;}

Answer 1

The way to provide an alias for a variable in C++ is to use references. For example,

int i = 42;

int& j = i;       // j is an alias for i
const int& k = j; // k is an alias for i. You cannot modify i via k.

Answer 2

You say

int a, *b;
b = &a; // *b is now an alias of a

I like to think of a pointer as something that gives you a variable when you star it, and the ampersand as the alias-making operator.

Answer 3

An alternative to Eric Lippert's answer:

int a;
int * const b = &a;

Now *b is the same as a it can not be made to point to anything else, the compiler will not generate additional code to handle a or *b, neither reserve space for a pointer.