What does this do?

Question

class point
{
public:
point(int,int);
int &x(int);//what happens here?
int &y(int);// why it is declared here?
private:
int _x;int _y;}

Answer 1

Maybe x and y are to function as getter and setters for the class objects _x and _y respectively. The int& means that these functions return a reference instead.

So, the prototype would have a definition like this:

int& x(int v=0)
//Method to get & set x using a function.
{ _x=v; return _x; }

Now this x can be used like this:

point p;
p.x(5); // Sets _x to 5.
p.x() = 2; // Sets _x to 2, we get a ref. to _x.
cout << p.x(); // Prints 2, as _x is returned.

Answer 2

thank you