Reference or Value?
Steven D'Aprano
steven at REMOVE.THIS.cybersource.com.au
Mon Feb 23 23:47:59 EST 2009
On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:14:34 -0300, andrew cooke wrote:
> Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> On Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:37:27 -0300, andrew cooke wrote:
>>
>>> as far as i understand things, the best model is:
>>>
>>> 1 - everything is an object
>>> 2 - everything is passed by reference
>>
>> Except that is wrong. If it were true, you could do this:
> [pointer swapping]
>
> i was thinking of how the stack is used; i would have called what you
> are talking about "pointer semantics". however, on reading around a
> little, it seems that i'm in a very small minority (which is a pity,
> because if you restrict the meaning to how values are handled on the
> stack then you get a lot closer to having just values and references,
> rather than the whole pile of different terms that are apparently in
> use).
>
> sorry for the confusion,
Why is it a pity to have a whole pile of different terms to describe a
whole lot of different behaviours? I would suggest the real confusion
would be if we had two terms to describe a dozen different parameter-
passing conventions.
--
Steven
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