Frequently asked questions
Q) I noticed something odd in the code we have been writing. In if statements, such as the following:
if (event.type == Event::KeyPressed)…
How does the Event parameter passed into the pollEvent function end up being used? After all, don’t the variables and objects only have scope in the function in which they are declared?
A) The reason is C++ references. References in C++ are variables that act as aliases for other variables. In the code under discussion, there are no explicit references. However, references are used to pass objects to functions efficiently, avoiding unnecessary copying. As the parameter of the pollEvent function is defined as a reference, values can be assigned to the passed-in event object and those values persist in our main function. We will understand this more when we discuss references in the next chapter.
Q) I noticed we have coded quite a few functions of the Player class that we don’t use...
