THINK++ — Engineering Visualized

Efficient Calls

Pass by Reference

Passing arguments by reference allows functions to modify the original variable and avoid the overhead of copying large data objects.

THE SWAP EXAMPLE

void swap(int &a, int &b) {
    int temp = a;
    a = b;
    b = temp;
}

int x = 5, y = 10;
swap(x, y); // x=10, y=5

NO COPYING

The function uses the original variable's memory. This is O(1) time and space.

MUTATION

The function can "return" multiple values by modifying its reference parameters.

Const Reference (Safe & Fast)

Use const T& to get the performance benefits of passing by reference without allowing the function to modify the data.

void printBig(const string &text);

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