PHWinfo - Afficher un message - Why use object pointers rather than objects?

15/10/2007, 22h14

krishna.kishore.0987@gmail.com wrote:
> Why are always object pointers used? (i.e., ObjectType *objPointer)

Always? I don't always use them. In fact, I seldom use them.
This is a very typical example of where I don't use them:

std::string s = "hello";

No pointer there.

> one advantage I see is passing them across methods, but is this purely
> presentation issue (use 'objPointer' rather than '&obj') or are there
> some performance affects?

If you pass an object by value then a copy will most probably be made,
which will often be less efficient than passing by reference or by
pointer. Also there's the slicing problem if inheritance is involved.

15/10/2007, 22h14	#4
Juha Nieminen Messages: n/a Hébergeur:	Re: Why use object pointers rather than objects? krishna.kishore.0987@gmail.com wrote: > Why are always object pointers used? (i.e., ObjectType *objPointer) Always? I don't always use them. In fact, I seldom use them. This is a very typical example of where I don't use them: std::string s = "hello"; No pointer there. > one advantage I see is passing them across methods, but is this purely > presentation issue (use 'objPointer' rather than '&obj') or are there > some performance affects? If you pass an object by value then a copy will most probably be made, which will often be less efficient than passing by reference or by pointer. Also there's the slicing problem if inheritance is involved.