RE: [boost] Re: Reference documentation

From: Glen Knowles (gknowles_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-11-01 01:21:57

From: David Abrahams [mailto:dave_at_[hidden]]

> "Kevin S. Van Horn" <Kevin.VanHorn_at_[hidden]> writes:
> > What you're missing here is that if I, as the implementor, declare
> > the argument to bee foo_t const &, it will be because I do not
> > intend to make a copy, and there are then no copy efficiency
> > concerns for you, the user, to worry about.  On the other hand, if I
> > declare it to be foo_t, this will only be because I need to create
> > _and_ _take_ _ownership_ _of_ an actual copy

> I think you're confused. The copy is owned by the virtual machine,
> since it gets created on the stack. Usually, "take ownership of" only
> applies to heap objects whose lifetimes can be managed by their
> owners.

He said "take ownership of a copy" which I assume to mean something he
can modify as opposed to a const ref which he can only look at. 

But I see little point, is there any practical difference between:

void f(const T& a) {
  T work(a);
  // play with work copy
}

and

void f(T work) {
  // play with work 
}

for types where const T& would be considered? (larger then a pointer
and/or with an explicit constructor). Both forms copy construct "work".

Glen