Re^4: The Concept of References

[adrianh]

in reply to Re^3: The Concept of References
in thread The Concept of References

One could argue that a pointer in C, e.g. to a struct tm, knows what it points to

In C the programmer tells the pointer what it points to. In Perl the reference knows what it points to. It's an important if subtle difference.

[Anonymous Monk]

Eh, not quite. The reference doesn't know. The difference is that in Perl, the thing the references points to, knows what it is. In Perl, SVs are typed.

[adrianh]

The difference is that in Perl, the thing the references points to, knows what it is. In Perl, SVs are typed.

Point. I should have been more precise.