c++ * vs & in function declaration [duplicate]

Answer 1

I follow the Google style guide standard as it makes the most sense to me. It states:

Within function parameter lists all references must be const:

void Foo(const string &in, string *out);

In fact it is a very strong convention in Google code that input arguments are values or const references while output arguments are pointers. Input parameters may be const pointers, but we never allow non-const reference parameters.

One case when you might want an input parameter to be a const pointer is if you want to emphasize that the argument is not copied, so it must exist for the lifetime of the object; it is usually best to document this in comments as well. STL adapters such as bind2nd and mem_fun do not permit reference parameters, so you must declare functions with pointer parameters in these cases, too.