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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 06:45:34 -0600
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 07:45:31 -0500
From: "Peter C. Chapin" <PChapin@vtc.vsc.edu>
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Subject: Re: How To Pass Large Object Arguments
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Xref: number.nntp.dca.giganews.com comp.lang.ada:183983
Date: 2013-11-24T07:45:31-05:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

On Sat, 23 Nov 2013, FritzVonBraun wrote:

> So my question is, is there a de facto standard at least?

Let the compiler worry about it.

You only need to step in if you can show (for example with profiling) that 
your program's performance is inadequate AND the problem is due to a 
"foolish" choice of parameter passing mechanism on the part of the 
compiler.

Certain types are definitely passed by reference, e.g., limited types that 
can't be copied. For types that could be passed either way I think you can 
be confident that any sane compiler will do "the right thing" and pass 
large objects by reference.

Peter