title: How are references implemented internally?
body: <p>I'm just wondering how references are actually implemented across different compilers and debug/release configurations. Does the standard provide recommendations on their implementation? Do implementations differ?</p>
  
  <p>I tried to run a simple program where I return non-const references and pointers to local variables from functions, but they worked out the same way. Does this mean that references are internally just a pointer?</p>