Hi, I'm new to C++ and I've been noticing & in variables and arguments and I was wondering what it's purpose is. Thank you.

Wait I think I remember it's a pointer, but can someone explain what makes it different?

http://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutorial/611-references/
http://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutorial/73-...reference/

If the ampersand is before a variable declaration then it's a good bet that that variable is a pointer. If you see && in ifs whiles etc it is called a logical and operator.

Etc: if(hot&&sunny)blahblah;
blahblah would only execute if hot and sunny are both true.

If you see a pointer value '*' it can be NULL and the pointer reference '&' cannot be NULL. So there is a big difference

It's good coding practice to use references as much as possible; only using pointers when you have to; e.g. in the scenario of reseating (assigning the pointer to another object which isn't the referent).

To summarise references act like they are the referent - which allows you to visualise the problem with a more natural mapping. In this sense they encourage good modern OO-practice. Pointers, however, can sometimes hide the problem; having said that a lot of old-school programmers still prefer them as are very used to pointers.