Array of References

[Neelesh]

Hi all,
References are (almost always) implemented as constant pointers.
We can certainly have an array of constant pointers.
But then why we cannot have array of references?

I can think of atleast two places where such a thing 'might' be used,
though I am not clear whether it makes sense to have such a usage -

1) Function call
int f (int& a[]); // a is an array of integer references

2) simple definition :
void foo()
{
const int& p[] = { 2,3,4,5}; // p is an array of references to const
integers.
}


Thanks in advance,
Neelesh

[Victor Bazarov]

Re: Array of References

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 08:19:11 -0800, Neelesh wrote:[color=blue]
> References are (almost always) implemented as constant pointers.[/color]

No. Or, rather, what makes you think that, anyway?
[color=blue]
> We can certainly have an array of constant pointers.[/color]

Yes.
[color=blue]
> But then why we cannot have array of references?[/color]

Because. References are not objects, we can only have arrays of objects.
Same reason why we don't have arrays of functions.
[color=blue]
> I can think of atleast two places where such a thing 'might' be used,
> though I am not clear whether it makes sense to have such a usage -
> [...][/color]

If you're not clear whether it makes sense, you should probably take
a hint from the language creators: it likely has no sense, that's why it
isn't there.

V

[Andrey Tarasevich]

Re: Array of References

Neelesh wrote:[color=blue]
> ...
> References are (almost always) implemented as constant pointers.
> We can certainly have an array of constant pointers.
> But then why we cannot have array of references?
> ...[/color]

The behavior of the language construct has absolutely nothing to do with the way
it is "(almost always) implemented". References in C++ represent certain
concept. And this concept, in its original form, does not include the
possibility of having arrays of references.

--
Best regards,
Andrey Tarasevich