[Dev-C++] A Question of & use

[Roger F. <ra...@ha...>]

Aloha from Honolulu,
   I've been learning C++ using "Sam's Teach Yourself C++" and when I 
came across "Effective C++ Second Edition" in a used-book store, I 
picked it up (both books mention each other).  My reference book had 
been "Turbo C/C++ The Complete Reference (Second Edition)" which was 
copyright 1992 (I was using Windows 3.1 and Borland's Turbo C++ 3).  
Finding the reference to be so out-of-date, I bought a new one: "The 
Complete Reference C++ Fourth Edition".  This has a 2003 copyright and 
is much more up-to-date.  I find it very useful when looking up 
specifics of things mentioned in the first two books.

   My questions for the group have to do with using the ampersand (&) 
for references.

   First: in "Effective C++", item 15, p. 65:
        "operator= default version C& C::operator=(const C&);"
The & follows the variable (?).

   But in "The Complete Reference" on p. 347 the author states
         "... as specified in the C++ syntax, when used in a 
declaration, the * (or &) is linked to the individual variable that it 
_/precedes/_, (my emphasis) not to the type that it follows."

   Second: In both "Sam's Teach Yourself..." and "Effective C++" the 
authors use "rhs" and "lhs" throughout.
   Example from "Teach Yourself C++" p.203: defining a class called 
"CAT" the following is the declaration for the copy constructor on line 8:
        8:       CAT (const CAT &);    // copy constructor
  Later on line 27 it is defined:
       27:      CAT::CAT(const CAT & rhs)
       28:            { ...   the definition continues...

   The author makes it clear that "rhs" stands for "right hand side" and 
"lhs" for "left hand side" and from the way they use them I have a 
pretty good idea of what they mean, but I can find no mention of either 
one in "The Complete Reference" and nowhere is there anything like line 
8 above: (const CAT &) where the & is at the end.

   Can anyone clear this up for me?

Much thanks in advance.
Mahalo,
Roger