call-by-reference

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

call-by-reference

   <programming> An {argument} passing convention where the
   address of an argument {variable} is passed to a {function} or
   {procedure}, as opposed to passing the value of the argument
   expression.  Execution of the function or procedure may have
   {side-effects} on the actual argument as seen by the caller.
   The {C} language's "&" (address of) and "*" (dereference)
   operators allow the programmer to code explicit
   call-by-reference.  Other languages provide special syntax to
   declare reference arguments (e.g. {ALGOL 60}).

   See also {call-by-name}, {call-by-value},
   {call-by-value-result}.

   (2006-05-27)