C++ How to Program, 10/e

... to function cubeByReference using pass-by-reference with a pointer argument (line 13)—the address of number is passed to the function. Function cubeByReference (lines 18–20) specifies parameter nPtr (a pointer to int) to receive its argument. The function uses the dereferenced pointer—*nPtr, an alias for number in main—to cube the value to which nPtr points (line 19). This directly changes the value of number in main (line 10). Line 19 can be made clearer with redundant parentheses:

*nPtr = (*nPtr) * (*nPtr) * (*nPtr); // cube *nPtr

Fig. 8.7 Pass-by-reference with a pointer argument used to cube a variable’s value.

Alternate View

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