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The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

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  Description
 
    After a reference type is declared, the compiler associates a
    variable of its type with a pointer. A pointer is a four-byte
    value that represents a memory address. The first two bytes store
    the offset, and the second two bytes store the base. The address
    points to (or references) a memory location that can contain a
    value of the variable's declared type.
 
    There are two kinds of reference types: pointer types and
    procedure types. The main difference between them is the
    manner in which the two are dereferenced──that is, how
    a value is assigned to or obtained from a variable of the
    reference type.
 
    Reference Type    How to Dereference the Reference Type
    ══════════════    ═══════════════════════════════════════════
    Pointer           Append a caret (^) to a variable of the
                      pointer type. For example,
 
                         pointer_variable^
 
    Procedure         Use the name of a variable of the procedure
                      type. A caret is not required. For example,
 
                         procedure_variable
 
    QuickPascal provides the following two reference types:
 
    ══════════
    Pointer
    Procedure
 
    Choose either reference type for help.