C++ function parameters: use a reference or a pointer (and then dereference)?

Question

I was given some code in which some of the parameters are pointers, and then the pointers are dereferenced to provide values. I was concerned that the pointer dereferencing wou

Answer 1

Here's the difference in the generated assembly with g++. a.cpp is pointers, b.cpp is references.

$ g++ -S a.cpp

$ g++ -S b.cpp

$ diff a.S b.S
1c1
<       .file   "a.cpp"
---
>       .file   "b.cpp"
4,6c4,6
< .globl __Z7MyFunc1PiS_
<       .def    __Z7MyFunc1PiS_;        .scl    2;      .type   32;     .endef
< __Z7MyFunc1PiS_:
---
> .globl __Z7MyFunc1RiS_
>       .def    __Z7MyFunc1RiS_;        .scl    2;      .type   32;     .endef
> __Z7MyFunc1RiS_:

Just the function name is slightly different; the contents are identical. I had identical results when I used g++ -O3.