C++ Objects: When should I use pointer or reference

Question

I can use an object as pointer to it, or its reference. I understand that the difference is that pointers have to be deleted manually, and references remain until they are o

Answer 1

You have many situations wherein a parameter does not exist or is invalid and this can depend on runtime semantics of the code. In such situations you can use a pointer and set it to NULL (0) to signal this state. Apart from this,

• A pointer can be re-assigned to a new state. A reference cannot. This is desirable in some situations.
• A pointer helps transfer owner-ship semantics. This is especially useful in multi-threaded environment if the parameter-state is used to execute in a separate thread and you do not usually poll till the thread has exited. Now the thread can delete it.