When to Use Reference Arguments
There are two main reasons for using reference arguments:
• To allow you to alter a data object in the calling function
• To speed up a program by passing a reference instead of an entire data object
The second reason is most important for larger data objects, such as structures and class objects. These two reasons are the same reasons you might have for using a pointer argument. This makes sense because reference arguments are really just a different interface for pointer-based code. So when should you use a reference? Use a pointer? Pass by value? The following are some guidelines.
A function uses passed data without modifying it:
• If the data object is small, such as a built-in data type or a small structure, pass it by value.
• If the data object is an array, use a pointer because that’s your only choice. Make the pointer a pointer to const.
• If the data object is a good-sized structure, use a const pointer or a const reference to increase program efficiency. You save the time and space needed to copy a structure or a class design. Make the pointer or reference const.
• If the data object is a class object, use a const reference. The semantics of class design often require using a reference, which is the main reason C++ added this feature. Thus, the standard way to pass class object arguments is by reference.
A function modifies data in the calling function:
• If the data object is a built-in data type, use a pointer. If you spot code like fixit(&x), where x is an int, it’s pretty clear that this function intends to modify x.
• If the data object is an array, use your only choice: a pointer.
• If the data object is a structure, use a reference or a pointer.
• If the data object is a class object, use a reference.
Of course, these are just guidelines, and there might be reasons for making different choices. For example, cin uses references for basic types so that you can use cin >> n instead of cin >> &n.
Default Arguments
Let’s look at another topic from C++’s bag of new tricks: the default argument. A default argument is a value that’s used automatically if you omit the corresponding actual argument from a function call. For example, if you set up void wow(int n) so that n has a default value of 1, the function call wow() is the same as wow(1). This gives you flexibility in how you use a function. Suppose you have a function called left() that returns the first n characters of a string, with the string and n as arguments. More precisely, the function returns a pointer to a new string consisting of the selected portion of the original string. For example, the call left("theory", 3) constructs a new string "the" and returns a pointer to it. Now suppose you establish a default value of 1 for the second argument. The call left("theory", 3) would work as before, with your choice of 3 overriding the default. But the call left("theory"), instead of being an error, would assume a second argument of 1 and return a pointer to the string "t". This kind of default is helpful if your program often needs to extract a one-character string but occasionally needs to extract longer strings.
How do you establish a default value? You must use the function prototype. Because the compiler looks at the prototype to see how many arguments a function uses, the function prototype also has to alert the program to the possibility of default arguments. The method is to assign a value to the argument in the prototype. For example, here’s the prototype fitting this description of left():
char * left(const char * str, int n = 1);
You want the function to return a new string, so its type is char*, or pointer-to-char. You want to leave the original string unaltered, so you use the const qualifier for the first argument. You want n to have a default value of 1, so you assign that value to n. A default argument value is an initialization value. Thus, the preceding prototype initializes n to the value 1. If you leave n alone, it has the value 1, but if you pass an argument, the new value overwrites the 1.
When you use a function with an argument list, you must add defaults from right to left. That is, you can’t provide a default value for a particular argument unless you also provide defaults for all the arguments to its right:
int harpo(int n, int m = 4, int j = 5); // VALID
int chico(int n, int m = 6, int j); // INVALID
int groucho(int k = 1, int m = 2, int n = 3); // VALID
For example, the harpo() prototype permits calls with one, two, or three arguments:
beeps = harpo(2); // same as harpo(2,4,5)
beeps = harpo(1,8); // same as harpo(1,8,5)
beeps = harpo (8,7,6); // no default arguments used
The actual arguments are assigned to the corresponding formal arguments from left to right; you can’t skip over arguments. Thus, the following isn’t allowed:
beeps = harpo(3, ,8); // invalid, doesn't set m to 4
Default arguments aren’t a major programming breakthrough; rather, they are a convenience. When you begin working with class design, you’ll find that they can reduce the number of constructors, methods, and method overloads you have to define.
Listing 8.9 puts default arguments to use. Note that only the prototype indicates the default. The function definition is the same as it would be without default arguments.
// left.cpp -- string function with a default argument
#include <iostream>
const int ArSize = 80;
char * left(const char * str, int n = 1);
int main()
{
using namespace std;
char sample[ArSize];
cout << "Enter a string:
";
cin.get(sample,ArSize);
char *ps = left(sample, 4);
cout << ps << endl;
delete [] ps; // free old string
ps = left(sample);
cout << ps << endl;
delete [] ps; // free new string
return 0;
}
// This function returns a pointer to a new string
// consisting of the first n characters in the str string.
char * left(const char * str, int n)
{
if(n < 0)
n = 0;
char * p = new char[n+1];
int i;
for (i = 0; i < n && str[i]; i++)
p[i] = str[i]; // copy characters
while (i <= n)
p[i++] = ' '; // set rest of string to ' '
return p;
}
Here’s a sample run of the program in Listing 8.9:
Enter a string:
forthcoming
fort
f