Understanding the basic of Openfoam programming

vishalgarg474 · September 25, 2020, 05:43

Hello Everyone,

I am a beginner in Openfoam programming and I am trying to understand these lines of code.

psiReactionThermo& thermo = reaction->thermo();

basicMultiComponentMixture& composition = thermo.composition();

What I can not understand is the usage of & and the -> in the codeline.

1. Does & call some functionality thermo of class psiReactionThermo. Or is it defining some kind of variable named thermo and then initializing it with reaction?

2. Further, what does the -> mean?

Could somebody share what they mean?

Krapf · September 25, 2020, 06:09

These are not special features of OpenFOAM programming. Take a look at this:
https://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutorial/611-references/
https://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutoria...nd-references/

September 25, 2020, 05:43	Understanding the basic of Openfoam programming	#1
vishalgarg474 New Member Vishal Join Date: Sep 2020 Posts: 6 Rep Power: 6	Hello Everyone, I am a beginner in Openfoam programming and I am trying to understand these lines of code. psiReactionThermo& thermo = reaction->thermo(); basicMultiComponentMixture& composition = thermo.composition(); What I can not understand is the usage of & and the -> in the codeline. 1. Does & call some functionality thermo of class psiReactionThermo. Or is it defining some kind of variable named thermo and then initializing it with reaction? 2. Further, what does the -> mean? Could somebody share what they mean? Last edited by vishalgarg474; September 25, 2020 at 05:44. Reason: tags

September 25, 2020, 06:09		#2
Krapf Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 133 Rep Power: 9	These are not special features of OpenFOAM programming. Take a look at this: https://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutorial/611-references/ https://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutoria...nd-references/ vishalgarg474 likes this.

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