note 105549 added to language.references.whatare

The only explanation offered by the text is that "they are symbol table aliases" . This really needs more explanation. Isn't a symbol table alias something like a key (or index?) into a symbol table , and as such, can be thought of as a pointer into the symbol table? The phrase "They are not like C pointers" doesn't provide much clarity. Java pointers (i.e. variables of type "reference to object") in one respect are not like C pointers: Java pointers have no pointer arithmetic. Yet in all other aspects, it helps to think of them as C pointers , to understand how they behave. The phrase "in PHP, variable name and variable content are different" doesn't distinguish PHP references from Pascal, C, C++, or Java : there there is also distinction between name and value. "The closest analogy is with Unix filenames and files" ... really makes me wonder. Are we dealing with a language here that defines references differently from what has come before, 50 years of procedural languages? ---- Server IP: 69.147.83.197 Probable Submitter: 46.44.146.234 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.whatare.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/105549 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/105549/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/105549/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/105549/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/105549/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/105549/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/105549/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/105549 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/105549 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php