How to decide which method to use when passing back values?

[ak]

Hello,

If I have a Get method in a class, is it better to return an object by value
or by copying the data to a pointer passed in as parameter?

classA GetSomething()
{
return objectA;
}

void GetSomething(classA *pObj)
{
*pObj = objectA;
}

Thanks
AK

[Danny Kalev]

yes, this is more efficient. However, I would avoid using pointers.
Instead, I'd pass a reference to a non-const object and fill that
object:

void GetSomething(classA & Obj) const
{
Obj = objectA;
}

This way you avoid the ugly pointer syntax and the risk of receiving a
null pointer as an argument.

Danny


ak wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> If I have a Get method in a class, is it better to return an object by value
> or by copying the data to a pointer passed in as parameter?
>
> classA GetSomething()
> {
> return objectA;
> }
>
> void GetSomething(classA *pObj)
> {
> *pObj = objectA;
> }
>
> Thanks
> AK