Pass by Pointer & Pass by Reference

Are there benefits of passing by pointer over passing by reference in C++?

A pointer can receive a NULL parameter, a reference parameter can not. If there's ever a chance that you could want to pass "no object", then use a pointer instead of a reference.

Also, passing by pointer allows you to explicitly see at the call site whether the object is passed by value or by reference:

// Is mySprite passed by value or by reference?  You can't tell 
// without looking at the definition of func()
func(mySprite);

// func2 passes "by pointer" - no need to look up function definition
func2(&mySprite);

When pass-by-pointer is preferred to pass-by-reference in C++?

Some like pass-by-pointer better in cases where the object being passed is actually going to be modified. They use pass-by-const-reference when the object is being passed by reference in order to avoid a copy of the object, but will not be changed in the function.

In illustration, take the following functions:

int foo(int x);
int foo1(int &x);
int foo2(int *x);

Now in the code, I do the following:

int testInt = 0;

foo(testInt);   // can't modify testInt
foo1(testInt);  // can modify testInt

foo2(&testInt); // can modify testInt

In calling foo vs foo1, it's not apparent from the callers perspective (or a programmer reading the code) that the function can modify testInt without having to look at the signature of the function. Looking at foo2, a reader can easily see that the function may in fact modify the value of testInt because the function is receiving the address of the parameter. Note that this doesn't guarantee the object is actually modified, but that's where being consistent in the use of references vs. pointers helps. In general, if you want to follow this guideline consistently you should always pass const references when you want to avoid copies, and pass by pointer when you want to be able to modify the object.

Reason to Pass a Pointer by Reference in C++?

You would want to pass a pointer by reference if you have a need to modify the pointer rather than the object that the pointer is pointing to.

This is similar to why double pointers are used; using a reference to a pointer is slightly safer than using pointers.

Passing pointer by reference in C

In C, pass by reference is emulated by passing a pointer to the desired type. That means if you have an int * that you want to pass to a function that can be modified (i.e. a change to the int * is visible in the caller), then the function should accept an int **.

In your specific case however, this isn't what you want. You only need to pass an int * to your function which it can then dereference implicitly via the [] operator and change the elements of the array.

void sort(int *arr, int s, int e)
{
  int temp = 0, i, j;
  for (i=0;i<e;i++)
  {
    for (j=i+1;j<e;j++)
    {
        if (arr[i]>arr[j])
        {
            temp = arr[i];
            arr[i] = arr[j];
            arr[j] = temp;
        }
    }
  } 
}

Is passing pointer by value or by reference the same

What is the difference between passing a pointer by reference and passing a pointer by value in C?

There is no such thing as passing a pointer by reference in C, all variables are passed by value, even pointers.

My understanding is when you pass arguments to methods a new stack frame is created and those values are copied to different memory addresses unless passed by reference. If passed by reference the memory addresses are passed.

Again, the pointers are not passed by reference, a copy of the value stored in the pointer is passed, i.e. the address where it points to, you can test this by changing the value of the pointer inside the function, and check how that reflects on the original pointer, spoiler, it doesn't.

When working with pointers I noticed that if I pass a char by value and modify it in a different stack frame when I return back to the main stack frame the value of the ptr has been modified.*

What you are passing is an address, a memory location where some data is stored, when you change the data stored in that memory address it will be permanent, no matter where you do it, in fact that is one of the advantages of using pointers, for you to change the contents of some variable outside the scope where it's declared.

Pass by pointer & Pass by reference

A reference is semantically the following:

T& <=> *(T * const)

const T& <=> *(T const * const)

T&& <=> [no C equivalent] (C++11)

As with other answers, the following from the C++ FAQ is the one-line answer: references when possible, pointers when needed.

An advantage over pointers is that you need explicit casting in order to pass NULL.
It's still possible, though.
Of the compilers I've tested, none emit a warning for the following:

int* p() {
    return 0;
}
void x(int& y) {
  y = 1;
}
int main() {
   x(*p());
}

How to pass a pointer variable as a reference parameter?

I want to pass a pointer by reference, but I'm not sure how to do that.

For this, consider the following snippet

#include <iostream>

void test(int*& t)
{
    t = nullptr;
}

int main()
{
    int* i = new int(4);

    test(i);

    if (i == nullptr)
        std::cout << "I was passed by reference" << std::endl;
}

in which is is passed by reference to test, where it is set to nullptr and the program prints: I was passed by reference.

I think this example should make clear how to pass a pointer by reference to a function.

So in your case the function signiture must change to

void LinkedList::move_five_nodes(Node*& ptr1, Node*& ptr2) { ... }