Computing Dictionary
call-by-reference definition
programming An
argument passing convention where the address of an argument
variable is passed to a
function or
procedure, as opposed to passing the value of the argument expression. Execution of the function or procedure may have
side-effects on the actual argument as seen by the caller. The
C language's "&" (address of) and "*" (dereference) operators allow the programmer to code explicit call-by-reference. Other languages provide special syntax to declare reference arguments (e.g.
ALGOL 60).
See also
call-by-name,
call-by-value,
call-by-value-result.
(2006-05-27)
