title: Is it better to pass by value or by reference for basic datatypes?
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicates:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2139224/how-to-pass-objects-to-functions-in-c">How to pass objects to functions in C++?</a><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/898789/is-there-any-specific-case-where-pass-by-value-is-preferred-over-pass-by-const-re">is there any specific case where pass-by-value is preferred over pass-by-const-reference in C++?</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>I have members of a class implemented like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>void aaa(int a, float b, short c)
  {
    bbb(a, b);
  }
  
  void bbb(int a, float b)
  {}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>If the values of a, b and c were stored in my class as constants, then would it have been better/sensible to use my functions as shown below or as shown above?</p>
  
  <pre><code>void aaa(int&amp; a, float&amp; b, short&amp; c)
  void bbb(int&amp; a, float&amp; b)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Does using references give any speed benefits or advantages in this case? Any disadvantages/overheads of references here?</p>