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From: bart <bc@freeuk.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?Re=3A_technology_discussion_=E2=86=92_does_the_world_need?=
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Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2024 18:30:54 +0100
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On 10/07/2024 16:48, Tim Rentsch wrote:
> bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
> 
>> I earlier asked this:
>>
>> "So if arrays aren't passed by value in C, and they aren't passed
>> by reference, then how the hell ARE they passed?!"
> 
> They aren't.  C allows lots of things to be passed as an argument
> to a function:  several varieties of numeric values, structs,
> unions, and pointers, including both pointers to object types and
> pointers to function types.  C does not have a way for a function
> to take an argument that is either an array or a function.  There
> is a way to take pointers to those things, but not the things
> themselves.  Arrays and functions are second-class values in C.

That's a good point. It's not just arrays that can't be passed by value 
(because the language says so) but also functions (because its not 
meaningful).

Yet, although pointers to arrays and function can be passed (without 
even doing anything special like using &), you are not allowed to say 
that anything is passed by reference in C!

The automatic conversion to a pointer, which is also a feature of true 
pass-by-reference, doesn't count.

Not needing an explicit deref inside the callee (another characteristic 
of pass-by-reference) doesn't count either.