Question

What values do reference variables hold?

Short answer

Answer: Reference variables store the memory addresses of other variables or objects they are referencing. They provide access to the values of those variables by allowing the programmer to directly access and manipulate the values stored in their respective memory locations.

Step-by-step solution

Understanding Reference Variables

Reference variables are used to store the memory address of other variables. In programming languages like C++ or Java, they are often used with pointers or objects. The reference variable itself does not store the actual value of the variable it is referencing but instead refers to the memory location where that value is stored.

Values Stored in Reference Variables

Reference variables hold memory addresses of the variables or objects they are referencing. These memory addresses give us direct access to the actual values of the variables stored in these memory locations. For instance, when you create a pointer in C++, you can use the '&' operator to store the memory address of another variable in that pointer. The pointer then holds the memory address as its value, which can be used to access and manipulate the actual value of the referenced variable. Example: ```cpp #include using namespace std; int main() { int x = 10; // A variable with value 10 int &y = x; // A reference variable y referencing the variable x cout << "Value of x: " << x << endl; cout << "Value of y: " << y << endl; // When we print the address of x and y, they will be the same cout << "Address of x: " << &x << endl; cout << "Address of y: " << &y << endl; return 0; } ``` In this example, the reference variable 'y' holds the memory address of the variable 'x'. When we print the values of 'x' and 'y', they both show the value '10', because 'y' is referencing the value stored at the memory address of 'x'. When we print the address of 'x' and 'y', they both show the same memory address, which indicates that 'y' is indeed a reference variable holding the address of 'x'.