A C++ program may return a pointer, just is may have them passed to the function. To specify a pointer, you define that data type in the return type. For example: The book gives an example on how to return an array this way, however, as it uses an existing array, the array is already…
You pass an array to a function, very similarly as to how you would pass a non-array variable. There are two differences. You need to include square brackets after the array name so C++ knows its and array Realize that you are passing by reference. The book recommends that you always pass the size of…
Previously we’ve seen how variables are passed by value. While this works well in many cases, it means that the variable has to be duplicated when it is passed to the function. For large, and/or complicated, variables – like when we start using objects, this can take precious time and resources. However, C++ offers us…
Calling a function has a performance penalty because you have to create variables, specify scope, pause the current variables and push data onto the call stack, just to name a few reasons. C++ allows you to define an inline function, which should be short, to improve the performance. In doing so, the compiler will actually…
C++ has added the ability to have default arguments be defined when you declare your functions. To define a default value, you must specify the parameter name, and then assign it a value. If someone calls this function without passing an argument to the function, the computer will use 20 as the parameter. If they…
Overloading a function means that you can create different functions with the same name, as long as their signatures are different. That means that the parameter list must be of a different number and/or data types from one to another. Overloading functions can make reading code much clearer/easier. This way functions that perform the same…
We’ve mentioned that you pass values to a function. This is mostly true. When you pass a hard coded value as your argument, you always pass the value. See the example below. If you pass a primitive data type (int, float, long, double, char, bool – just to name a few examples), you pass by…
You will find defining a function in C++ very similar to defining a function in Python. There are some differences however. Let’s look at the general form, and then define the sections from here. Functions must be defined outside of other functions. C/C++ doesn’t have the concept of a sub or inner function like some…
