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What's the difference between passing node* and node *& into a function? Don't they both pass a memory address? What do you actually pass when you use one over the other?

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    yeah this is pointers-magic eskimo.com/~scs/cclass/int/sx8.html Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 22:28
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    It's the exact same thing as int vs. int &. Or double vs. double &. Or any other T vs. T &. Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 22:28
  • @chris node* makes a copy of the address and node*& doesn't? that's it? Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 22:29
  • node *& is similar to node ** Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 22:35

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The node *& is a reference to a pointer, whereas node* is simply a pointer.

In that way, node *& adds an additional level of indirection and it is basically a second name for some node * (pointer to node). It is most frequently used for argument passing.

Please, take a look here for details.

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The node *& notation is a reference to a pointer to a node object, allowing you to change the memory address pointed to by the pointer (through the ref) as well as the node value (through the pointer). Using node * notation only allows you to achieve the latter.

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