C++ pass-thru parameters

So in ye olde days, before C++11 and move semantics, it was common for functions to use mutable references to pass container-content to the caller, like this:

void random_between(std::vector<int>& out,
  int left, int right, std::size_t N)
{
  std::uniform_int_distribution<> 
    distribution(left, right);
  for (std::size_t i = 0; i < N; ++i)
    out.push_back(distribution(rng));
}

and you would often use it like this:

std::vector<int> numbers;
random_between(numbers, 7, 42, 10);

Basically trading expressiveness and convenience for speed/efficiency.

Convenience is king

Now obviously, those days are over. With move-semantics and guaranteed copy-elision backing us up, it is usually fine to just return the filled container, like this:

std::vector<int> random_between(int left, int right,
  std::size_t N)
{
  std::vector<int> out;
  std::uniform_int_distribution<>
    distribution(left, right);
  for (std::size_t i = 0; i < N; ++i)
    out.push_back(distribution(rng));
  return out;
}

Now you no longer have to initialize the container to use this function and the function also became pure, clearly differentiating between its inputs and outputs.

Mostly better?

However, there is a downside: Before, the function could be used to append multiple runs into the same container, like this:

std::vector<int> numbers;
for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i)
  random_between(numbers, 50*i + 7, 50*i + 42, 10);

That use case suddenly became a lot harder. Also, what if you want to keep your vector around and just .clear() it before calling the function again later, to save allocations? That’s also no longer possible. I am not saying that these two use cases should make you prefer the old variant, as they tend not to happen very often. But when they do, it’s all the more annoying. So what if we could have your cake and eat it, too?

A Compromise

How about this:

std::vector<int> random_between(int left, int right,
  std::size_t N, std::vector<int> out = {})
{
  std::uniform_int_distribution<>
    distribution(left, right);
  for (std::size_t i = 0; i < N; ++i)
    out.push_back(distribution(rng));
  return out;
}

Now you can use it to just append again:

std::vector<int> numbers;
for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i)
  numbers = random_between(
    50*i + 7, 50*i + 42, 10, std::move(numbers));

But you can also use it in the straightforward way, for the hopefully more common case:

auto numbers = random_between(
  50*i + 7, 50*i + 42, 10);

Now you should definitely not do this with all your functions returning a container. But it is a nice pattern to have up your sleeve when the need arises. It should be noted that passing a mutable reference can still be faster in some cases, as that will save you two moves. And you can also add a container-returning facade variant as an overload, but I think this pattern is a very nice compromise that can be implemented by moving a single variable to the parameter list and defaulting it. It keeps 99% of the use cases identically to the original container-returning variant, while making the “append” use slightly more verbose, but also more expressive.