The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
A reference parameter is a parameter, also called an argument, which defines the characteristics of a function. It is used when the function conveys a value to, or changes the value of, a variable from the calling block, without an assignment statement (such as D = A + B+ C, where D is the variable and the equation is the expression) in the calling block. In other words, a reference parameter specifies the location of the particular parameter, rather than containing the actual parameter information that defines the function.
When a function is called for, the reference parameter passes the memory address of the function parameter to a routine. The routine, in turn, executes the function.
A reference parameter is usually not information that is widely disseminated, since its use can alter functions that the user has installed.