C++ DAL - Return Reference or Populate Passed In Reference

Question

[EDIT 1 - added third pointer syntax (Thanks Alex)]

Which method would you prefer for a DAL and why out of:

Car& DAL::loadCar(int id) {}
bool DAL         


        

Answer 1

Since you are anyways allocating objects on heap, why not to consider Car * LoadCar() which returns NULL if problem occurs. This way you have no restrictions with reference types (each reference must be initialized) and also have means to signal the error case.