call-by-reference

    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)