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href="#Language_support"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Language support</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Language_support-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Language support subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Language_support-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Assembly" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Assembly"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.1</span> <span>Assembly</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Assembly-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Lisp" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Lisp"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.2</span> <span>Lisp</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Lisp-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-C/C++" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#C/C++"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.3</span> <span>C/C++</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-C/C++-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Fortran" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Fortran"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.4</span> <span>Fortran</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Fortran-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Object-oriented_languages" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Object-oriented_languages"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.5</span> <span>Object-oriented languages</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Object-oriented_languages-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Functional_languages" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Functional_languages"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.6</span> <span>Functional languages</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Functional_languages-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Perl/PHP" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Perl/PHP"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.7</span> <span>Perl/PHP</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Perl/PHP-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" 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Available in 23 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-23" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">23 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refer%C3%A8ncia_(inform%C3%A0tica)" title="Referència (informàtica) – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Referència (informàtica)" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_(programov%C3%A1n%C3%AD)" title="Reference (programování) – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Reference (programování)" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referenz_(Programmierung)" title="Referenz (Programmierung) – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Referenz (Programmierung)" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%AC_(%CF%85%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AD%CF%82)" title="Αναφορά (υπολογιστές) – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Αναφορά (υπολογιστές)" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referencia_(inform%C3%A1tica)" title="Referencia (informática) – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Referencia (informática)" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B9_(%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%85_%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87)" title="ارجاع (علوم رایانه) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="ارجاع (علوم رایانه)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9f%C3%A9rence_(programmation)" title="Référence (programmation) – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Référence (programmation)" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%B0%B8%EC%A1%B0" title="참조 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="참조" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riferimento_(informatica)" title="Riferimento (informatica) – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Riferimento (informatica)" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kk mw-list-item"><a href="https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5" title="Сілтеме – Kazakh" lang="kk" hreflang="kk" data-title="Сілтеме" data-language-autonym="Қазақша" data-language-local-name="Kazakh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Қазақша</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%82%E7%85%A7_(%E8%A8%88%E7%AE%97%E6%A9%9F%E7%A7%91%E5%AD%A6)" title="参照 (計算機科学) – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="参照 (計算機科学)" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referanse_(informatikk)" title="Referanse (informatikk) – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Referanse (informatikk)" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referencja_(informatyka)" title="Referencja (informatyka) – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Referencja (informatyka)" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refer%C3%AAncia_(ci%C3%AAncia_da_computa%C3%A7%C3%A3o)" title="Referência (ciência da computação) – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Referência (ciência da computação)" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%81%D1%8B%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0_(%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5)" title="Ссылка (программирование) – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Ссылка (программирование)" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B5%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B0_(%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%9A%D0%B5)" title="Референца (програмирање) – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Референца (програмирање)" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referens_(datateknik)" title="Referens (datateknik) – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Referens (datateknik)" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tg mw-list-item"><a href="https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D2%B7%D0%B0%D1%8A_(%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B8_%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%B0)" title="Марҷаъ (улуми роёна) – Tajik" lang="tg" hreflang="tg" data-title="Марҷаъ (улуми роёна)" data-language-autonym="Тоҷикӣ" data-language-local-name="Tajik" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Тоҷикӣ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolaylama" title="Dolaylama – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Dolaylama" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8F_(%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8F)" title="Посилання (програмування) – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Посилання (програмування)" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tham_chi%E1%BA%BFu_(khoa_h%E1%BB%8Dc_m%C3%A1y_t%C3%ADnh)" title="Tham chiếu (khoa học máy tính) – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Tham chiếu (khoa học máy tính)" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link 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searchaux" style="display:none">Data type which allows a program to indirectly access a particular value in memory</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">This article is about the general concept in computing. For the more specific concept in C++, see <a href="/wiki/Reference_(C%2B%2B)" title="Reference (C++)">Reference (C++)</a>.</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Reference_(computer_science)" title="Special:EditPage/Reference (computer science)">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Reference%22+computer+science">"Reference" computer science</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Reference%22+computer+science+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Reference%22+computer+science&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Reference%22+computer+science+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Reference%22+computer+science">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Reference%22+computer+science&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">November 2010</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Computer_programming" title="Computer programming">computer programming</a>, a <b>reference</b> is a value that enables a program to indirectly access a particular <a href="/wiki/Datum" class="mw-redirect" title="Datum">datum</a>, such as a <a href="/wiki/Variable_(computer_science)" title="Variable (computer science)">variable</a>'s value or a <a href="/wiki/Record_(computer_science)" title="Record (computer science)">record</a>, in the <a href="/wiki/Computer" title="Computer">computer</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Memory_(computing)" class="mw-redirect" title="Memory (computing)">memory</a> or in some other <a href="/wiki/Data_storage_device" class="mw-redirect" title="Data storage device">storage device</a>. The reference is said to <b>refer</b> to the datum, and accessing the datum is called <b><a href="/wiki/Dereference_operator" class="mw-redirect" title="Dereference operator">dereferencing</a></b> the reference. A reference is distinct from the datum itself. </p><p>A reference is an <a href="/wiki/Abstract_data_type" title="Abstract data type">abstract data type</a> and may be implemented in many ways. Typically, a reference refers to data stored in memory on a given system, and its internal value is the <a href="/wiki/Memory_address" title="Memory address">memory address</a> of the data, i.e. a reference is implemented as a <a href="/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming)" title="Pointer (computer programming)">pointer</a>. For this reason a reference is often said to "point to" the data. Other implementations include an offset (difference) between the datum's address and some fixed "base" address, an <a href="/wiki/Array_index" class="mw-redirect" title="Array index">index</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Identifier" title="Identifier">identifier</a> used in a <a href="/wiki/Lookup" class="mw-redirect" title="Lookup">lookup</a> operation into an <a href="/wiki/Array_data_structure" class="mw-redirect" title="Array data structure">array</a> or <a href="/wiki/Table_(database)" title="Table (database)">table</a>, an operating system <a href="/wiki/Handle_(computing)" title="Handle (computing)">handle</a>, a <a href="/wiki/Physical_address" title="Physical address">physical address</a> on a storage device, or a network address such as a <a href="/wiki/URL" title="URL">URL</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Formal_representation">Formal representation</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Formal representation"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>A reference <i>R</i> is a value that admits one operation, <kbd>dereference</kbd>(<i>R</i>), which yields a value. Usually the reference is typed so that it returns values of a specific type, e.g.:<sup id="cite_ref-Sherman_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sherman-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-highlight mw-highlight-lang-java mw-content-ltr" dir="ltr"><pre><span></span><span class="kd">interface</span> <span class="nc">Reference</span><span class="o"><</span><span class="n">T</span><span class="o">></span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">{</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="n">T</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">value</span><span class="p">();</span> <span class="p">}</span> </pre></div> <p>Often the reference also admits an assignment operation <kbd>store</kbd>(<i>R</i>, <i>x</i>), meaning it is an <a href="/wiki/Abstract_data_type#Abstract_variable" title="Abstract data type">abstract variable</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Sherman_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sherman-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Use">Use</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Use"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>References are widely used in <a href="/wiki/Computer_programming" title="Computer programming">programming</a>, especially to efficiently pass large or mutable data as <a href="/wiki/Argument_(computer_science)" class="mw-redirect" title="Argument (computer science)">arguments</a> to <a href="/wiki/Subroutine" class="mw-redirect" title="Subroutine">procedures</a>, or to share such data among various uses. In particular, a reference may point to a variable or record that contains references to other data. This idea is the basis of <a href="/wiki/Indirect_addressing" class="mw-redirect" title="Indirect addressing">indirect addressing</a> and of many <a href="/wiki/Linked_data_structure" title="Linked data structure">linked data structures</a>, such as <a href="/wiki/Linked_list" title="Linked list">linked lists</a>. References increase flexibility in where objects can be stored, how they are allocated, and how they are passed between areas of <a href="/wiki/Code" title="Code">code</a>. As long as one can access a reference to the data, one can access the data through it, and the data itself need not be moved. They also make sharing of data between different code areas easier; each keeps a reference to it. </p><p>References can cause significant complexity in a program, partially due to the possibility of <a href="/wiki/Dangling_reference" class="mw-redirect" title="Dangling reference">dangling</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wild_reference" class="mw-redirect" title="Wild reference">wild references</a> and partially because the <a href="/wiki/Topology" title="Topology">topology</a> of data with references is a <a href="/wiki/Directed_graph" title="Directed graph">directed graph</a>, whose analysis can be quite complicated. Nonetheless, references are still simpler to analyze than <a href="/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming)" title="Pointer (computer programming)">pointers</a> due to the absence of <a href="/wiki/Pointer_arithmetic" class="mw-redirect" title="Pointer arithmetic">pointer arithmetic</a>. </p><p>The mechanism of references, if varying in implementation, is a fundamental programming language feature common to nearly all modern programming languages. Even some languages that support no direct use of references have some internal or implicit use. For example, the <a href="/wiki/Evaluation_strategy" title="Evaluation strategy">call by reference</a> calling convention can be implemented with either explicit or implicit use of references. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Examples">Examples</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Examples"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming)" title="Pointer (computer programming)">Pointers</a> are the most primitive type of reference. Due to their intimate relationship with the underlying hardware, they are one of the most powerful and efficient types of references. However, also due to this relationship, pointers require a strong understanding by the programmer of the details of memory architecture. Because pointers store a memory location's address, instead of a value directly, inappropriate use of pointers can lead to <a href="/wiki/Undefined_behavior" title="Undefined behavior">undefined behavior</a> in a program, particularly due to <a href="/wiki/Dangling_pointer" title="Dangling pointer">dangling pointers</a> or <a href="/wiki/Wild_pointer" class="mw-redirect" title="Wild pointer">wild pointers</a>. <a href="/wiki/Smart_pointer" title="Smart pointer">Smart pointers</a> are <a href="/wiki/Opaque_pointer" title="Opaque pointer">opaque data structures</a> that act like pointers but can only be accessed through particular methods. </p><p>A <a href="/wiki/Handle_(computing)" title="Handle (computing)">handle</a> is an abstract reference, and may be represented in various ways. A common example are <a href="/wiki/File_handle" class="mw-redirect" title="File handle">file handles</a> (the FILE data structure in the <a href="/wiki/Stdio" class="mw-redirect" title="Stdio">C standard I/O library</a>), used to abstract file content. It usually represents both the file itself, as when requesting a <a href="/wiki/Lock_(computer_science)" title="Lock (computer science)">lock</a> on the file, and a specific position within the file's content, as when reading a file. </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Distributed_computing" title="Distributed computing">distributed computing</a>, the reference may contain more than an address or identifier; it may also include an embedded specification of the network protocols used to locate and access the referenced object, the way information is encoded or serialized. Thus, for example, a <a href="/wiki/Web_services_description_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Web services description language">WSDL</a> description of a remote web service can be viewed as a form of reference; it includes a complete specification of how to locate and bind to a particular <a href="/wiki/Web_service" title="Web service">web service</a>. A reference to a <a href="/wiki/Live_distributed_object" title="Live distributed object">live distributed object</a> is another example: it is a complete specification for how to construct a small software component called a <i>proxy</i> that will subsequently engage in a peer-to-peer interaction, and through which the local machine may gain access to data that is replicated or exists only as a weakly consistent message stream. In all these cases, the reference includes the full set of instructions, or a recipe, for how to access the data; in this sense, it serves the same purpose as an identifier or address in memory. </p><p>If we have a set of keys <i>K</i> and a set of data objects <i>D</i>, any well-defined (single-valued) function from <i>K</i> to <i>D</i> ∪ {<a href="/wiki/Nullable_type" title="Nullable type">null</a>} defines a type of reference, where <i>null</i> is the image of a key not referring to anything meaningful. </p><p>An alternative representation of such a function is a directed graph called a <a href="/w/index.php?title=Reachability_graph&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Reachability graph (page does not exist)">reachability graph</a>. Here, each datum is represented by a vertex and there is an edge from <i>u</i> to <i>v</i> if the datum in <i>u</i> refers to the datum in <i>v</i>. The maximum <a href="/wiki/Out-degree" class="mw-redirect" title="Out-degree">out-degree</a> is one. These graphs are valuable in <a href="/wiki/Garbage_collection_(computer_science)" title="Garbage collection (computer science)">garbage collection</a>, where they can be used to separate accessible from <a href="/wiki/Unreachable_object" class="mw-redirect" title="Unreachable object">inaccessible objects</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_and_internal_storage">External and internal storage</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: External and internal storage"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In many data structures, large, complex objects are composed of smaller objects. These objects are typically stored in one of two ways: </p> <ol><li>With internal storage, the contents of the smaller object are stored inside the larger object.</li> <li>With external storage, the smaller objects are allocated in their own location, and the larger object only stores references to them.</li></ol> <p>Internal storage is usually more efficient, because there is a space cost for the references and <a href="/wiki/Dynamic_memory_allocation" class="mw-redirect" title="Dynamic memory allocation">dynamic allocation</a> metadata, and a time cost associated with dereferencing a reference and with allocating the memory for the smaller objects. Internal storage also enhances <a href="/wiki/Locality_of_reference" title="Locality of reference">locality of reference</a> by keeping different parts of the same large object close together in memory. However, there are a variety of situations in which external storage is preferred: </p> <ul><li>If the <a href="/wiki/Recursive_data_type" title="Recursive data type">data structure is recursive</a>, meaning it may contain itself. This cannot be represented in the internal way.</li> <li>If the larger object is being stored in an area with limited space, such as the stack, then we can prevent running out of storage by storing large component objects in another memory region and referring to them using references.</li> <li>If the smaller objects may vary in size, it is often inconvenient or expensive to resize the larger object so that it can still contain them.</li> <li>References are often easier to work with and adapt better to new requirements.</li></ul> <p>Some languages, such as <a href="/wiki/Java_(programming_language)" title="Java (programming language)">Java</a>, <a href="/wiki/Smalltalk" title="Smalltalk">Smalltalk</a>, <a href="/wiki/Python_(programming_language)" title="Python (programming language)">Python</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Scheme_(programming_language)" title="Scheme (programming language)">Scheme</a>, do not support internal storage. In these languages, all objects are uniformly accessed through references. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Language_support">Language support</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Language support"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Assembly">Assembly</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Assembly"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Assembly_language" title="Assembly language">assembly language</a>, it is typical to express references using either raw memory addresses or indexes into tables. These work, but are somewhat tricky to use, because an address tells you nothing about the value it points to, not even how large it is or how to interpret it; such information is encoded in the program logic. The result is that misinterpretations can occur in incorrect programs, causing bewildering errors. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Lisp">Lisp</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Lisp"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>One of the earliest opaque references was that of the <a href="/wiki/Lisp_(programming_language)" title="Lisp (programming language)">Lisp</a> language <a href="/wiki/Cons" title="Cons">cons cell</a>, which is simply a <a href="/wiki/Object_composition" title="Object composition">record</a> containing two references to other Lisp objects, including possibly other cons cells. This simple structure is most commonly used to build singly <a href="/wiki/Linked_list" title="Linked list">linked lists</a>, but can also be used to build simple <a href="/wiki/Binary_tree" title="Binary tree">binary trees</a> and so-called "dotted lists", which terminate not with a null reference but a value. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="C/C++"><span id="C.2FC.2B.2B"></span>C/C++</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: C/C++"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951" /><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information: <a href="/wiki/Reference_(C%2B%2B)" title="Reference (C++)">Reference (C++)</a></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming)" title="Pointer (computer programming)">pointer</a> is still one of the most popular types of references today. It is similar to the assembly representation of a raw address, except that it carries a static <a href="/wiki/Datatype" class="mw-redirect" title="Datatype">datatype</a> which can be used at compile-time to ensure that the data it refers to is not misinterpreted. However, because C has a <a href="/wiki/Weak_typing" class="mw-redirect" title="Weak typing">weak type system</a> which can be violated using <a href="/wiki/Cast_(computer_science)" class="mw-redirect" title="Cast (computer science)">casts</a> (explicit conversions between various pointer types and between pointer types and integers), misinterpretation is still possible, if more difficult. Its successor <a href="/wiki/C%2B%2B" title="C++">C++</a> tried to increase <a href="/wiki/Type_safety" title="Type safety">type safety</a> of pointers with new cast operators, a <a href="/wiki/Reference_type" class="mw-redirect" title="Reference type">reference type</a> <code>&</code>, and smart pointers in <a href="/wiki/C%2B%2B_standard_library" class="mw-redirect" title="C++ standard library">its standard library</a>, but still retained the ability to circumvent these safety mechanisms for compatibility. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Fortran">Fortran</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Fortran"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Fortran does not have an explicit representation of references, but does use them implicitly in its <a href="/wiki/Call-by-reference" class="mw-redirect" title="Call-by-reference">call-by-reference</a> calling semantics. A <a href="/wiki/Fortran" title="Fortran">Fortran</a> reference is best thought of as an <i>alias</i> of another object, such as a scalar variable or a row or column of an array. There is no syntax to dereference the reference or manipulate the contents of the referent directly. Fortran references can be null. As in other languages, these references facilitate the processing of dynamic structures, such as linked lists, queues, and trees. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Object-oriented_languages">Object-oriented languages</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Object-oriented languages"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>A number of object-oriented languages such as <a href="/wiki/Eiffel_(programming_language)" title="Eiffel (programming language)">Eiffel</a>, <a href="/wiki/Java_(programming_language)" title="Java (programming language)">Java</a>, <a href="/wiki/C_Sharp_(programming_language)" title="C Sharp (programming language)">C#</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Visual_Basic" title="Visual Basic">Visual Basic</a> have adopted a much more opaque type of reference, usually referred to as simply a <i>reference</i>. These references have types like C pointers indicating how to interpret the data they reference, but they are typesafe in that they cannot be interpreted as a raw address and unsafe conversions are not permitted. References are extensively used to access and <a href="/wiki/Assignment_(computer_science)#Assignment_in_object_oriented_languages" title="Assignment (computer science)">assign</a> objects. References are also used in function/<a href="/wiki/Method_(computer_programming)" title="Method (computer programming)">method</a> calls or message passing, and <a href="/wiki/Reference_counting" title="Reference counting">reference counts</a> are frequently used to perform <a href="/wiki/Garbage_collection_(computer_science)" title="Garbage collection (computer science)">garbage collection</a> of unused objects. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Functional_languages">Functional languages</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Functional languages"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Standard_ML" title="Standard ML">Standard ML</a>, <a href="/wiki/OCaml" title="OCaml">OCaml</a>, and many other functional languages, most values are persistent: they cannot be modified by assignment. Assignable "reference cells" provide <a href="/wiki/Mutable" class="mw-redirect" title="Mutable">mutable variables</a>, data that can be modified. Such reference cells can hold any value, and so are given the <a href="/wiki/Polymorphism_(computer_science)" title="Polymorphism (computer science)">polymorphic</a> type <code>α ref</code>, where <code>α</code> is to be replaced with the type of value pointed to. These mutable references can be pointed to different objects over their lifetime. For example, this permits building of circular data structures. The reference cell is functionally equivalent to a mutable array of length 1. </p><p>To preserve safety and efficient implementations, references cannot be <a href="/wiki/Type_conversion" title="Type conversion">type-cast</a> in ML, nor can pointer arithmetic be performed. In the functional paradigm, many structures that would be represented using pointers in a language like C are represented using other facilities, such as the powerful <a href="/wiki/Algebraic_datatype" class="mw-redirect" title="Algebraic datatype">algebraic datatype</a> mechanism. The programmer is then able to enjoy certain properties (such as the guarantee of immutability) while programming, even though the compiler often uses machine pointers "under the hood". </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Perl/PHP"><span id="Perl.2FPHP"></span>Perl/PHP</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Perl/PHP"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Perl" title="Perl">Perl</a> supports hard references, which function similarly to those in other languages, and <b>symbolic references</b>, which are just string values that contain the names of variables. When a value that is not a hard reference is dereferenced, Perl considers it to be a symbolic reference and gives the variable with the name given by the value.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/PHP" title="PHP">PHP</a> has a similar feature in the form of its <code>$$var</code> syntax.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abstraction_(computer_science)" title="Abstraction (computer science)">Abstraction (computer science)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Autovivification" title="Autovivification">Autovivification</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bounded_pointer" title="Bounded pointer">Bounded pointer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linked_data" title="Linked data">Linked data</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Magic_cookie" title="Magic cookie">Magic cookie</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Weak_reference" title="Weak reference">Weak reference</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Reference_(computer_science)&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-Sherman-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Sherman_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Sherman_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFSherman1985" class="citation book cs1">Sherman, Mark S. (April 1985). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=tXzuooE8EVsC"><i>Paragon: A Language Using Type Hierarchies for the Specification, Implementation, and Selection of Abstract Data Types</i></a>. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 175. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-540-15212-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-3-540-15212-5"><bdi>978-3-540-15212-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Paragon%3A+A+Language+Using+Type+Hierarchies+for+the+Specification%2C+Implementation%2C+and+Selection+of+Abstract+Data+Types&rft.pages=175&rft.pub=Springer+Science+%26+Business+Media&rft.date=1985-04&rft.isbn=978-3-540-15212-5&rft.aulast=Sherman&rft.aufirst=Mark+S.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DtXzuooE8EVsC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AReference+%28computer+science%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/ref/Reference.html">"Reference (Java Platform SE 7)"</a>. <i>docs.oracle.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 May</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=docs.oracle.com&rft.atitle=Reference+%28Java+Platform+SE+7%29&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.oracle.com%2Fjavase%2F7%2Fdocs%2Fapi%2Fjava%2Flang%2Fref%2FReference.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AReference+%28computer+science%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlref.html#Symbolic-references">"perlref"</a>. perldoc.perl.org<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2013-08-19</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=perlref&rft.pub=perldoc.perl.org&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fperldoc.perl.org%2Fperlref.html%23Symbolic-references&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AReference+%28computer+science%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php">"Variable variables - Manual"</a>. PHP<span class="reference-accessdate">. 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numeral system">Trit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ternary_numeral_system#Tryte" title="Ternary numeral system">Tryte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)" title="Word (computer architecture)">Word</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bit_array" title="Bit array">Bit array</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Numeric</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Arbitrary-precision_arithmetic" title="Arbitrary-precision arithmetic">Arbitrary-precision or bignum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Complex_data_type" title="Complex data type">Complex</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Decimal_data_type" title="Decimal data type">Decimal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fixed-point_arithmetic" title="Fixed-point arithmetic">Fixed point</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Floating-point_arithmetic" title="Floating-point arithmetic">Floating point</a> <ul><li>Reduced precision <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Minifloat" title="Minifloat">Minifloat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Half-precision_floating-point_format" title="Half-precision floating-point format">Half precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bfloat16_floating-point_format" title="Bfloat16 floating-point format">bfloat16</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Single-precision_floating-point_format" title="Single-precision floating-point format">Single precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Double-precision_floating-point_format" title="Double-precision floating-point format">Double precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quadruple-precision_floating-point_format" title="Quadruple-precision floating-point format">Quadruple precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Octuple-precision_floating-point_format" title="Octuple-precision floating-point format">Octuple precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Extended_precision" title="Extended precision">Extended precision</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Long_double" title="Long double">Long double</a></li></ul></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Integer_(computer_science)" title="Integer (computer science)">Integer</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Signedness" title="Signedness">signedness</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interval_arithmetic#Implementations" title="Interval arithmetic">Interval</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rational_data_type" title="Rational data type">Rational</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming)" title="Pointer (computer programming)">Pointer</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Memory_address" title="Memory address">Address</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Physical_address" title="Physical address">physical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Virtual_address_space" title="Virtual address space">virtual</a></li></ul></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Reference</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Plain_text" title="Plain text">Text</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Character_(computing)" title="Character (computing)">Character</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/String_(computer_science)" title="String (computer science)">String</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Null-terminated_string" title="Null-terminated string">null-terminated</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Composite_data_type" title="Composite data type">Composite</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Algebraic_data_type" title="Algebraic data type">Algebraic data type</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Generalized_algebraic_data_type" title="Generalized algebraic data type">generalized</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Array_data_type" class="mw-redirect" title="Array data type">Array</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Associative_array" title="Associative array">Associative array</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Class_(computer_programming)" title="Class (computer programming)">Class</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dependent_type" title="Dependent type">Dependent</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intuitionistic_type_theory#Equality_type" title="Intuitionistic type theory">Equality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inductive_type" title="Inductive type">Inductive</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intersection_type" title="Intersection type">Intersection</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_(abstract_data_type)" title="List (abstract data type)">List</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Object_(computer_science)" title="Object (computer science)">Object</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Metaobject" title="Metaobject">metaobject</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Option_type" title="Option type">Option type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Product_type" title="Product type">Product</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Record_(computer_science)" title="Record (computer science)">Record or Struct</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Refinement_type" title="Refinement type">Refinement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Set_(abstract_data_type)" title="Set (abstract data type)">Set</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Union_type" title="Union type">Union</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tagged_union" title="Tagged union">tagged</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Other</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Boolean_data_type" title="Boolean data type">Boolean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bottom_type" title="Bottom type">Bottom type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Container_(abstract_data_type)" title="Container (abstract data type)">Collection</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Enumerated_type" title="Enumerated type">Enumerated type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Exception_handling" title="Exception handling">Exception</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Function_type" title="Function type">Function type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Opaque_data_type" title="Opaque data type">Opaque data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Recursive_data_type" title="Recursive data type">Recursive data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semaphore_(programming)" title="Semaphore (programming)">Semaphore</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_(computing)" title="Stream (computing)">Stream</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Strongly_typed_identifier" title="Strongly typed identifier">Strongly typed identifier</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Top_type" title="Top type">Top type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_class" title="Type class">Type class</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Empty_type" title="Empty type">Empty type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unit_type" title="Unit type">Unit type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Void_type" title="Void type">Void</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related<br />topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abstract_data_type" title="Abstract data type">Abstract data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Boxing_(computer_science)" class="mw-redirect" title="Boxing (computer science)">Boxing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Data_structure" title="Data structure">Data structure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Generic_programming" title="Generic programming">Generic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kind_(type_theory)" title="Kind (type theory)">Kind</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Metaclass" title="Metaclass">metaclass</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Parametric_polymorphism" title="Parametric polymorphism">Parametric polymorphism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Primitive_data_type" title="Primitive data type">Primitive data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interface_(object-oriented_programming)" title="Interface (object-oriented programming)">Interface</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subtyping" title="Subtyping">Subtyping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_constructor" title="Type constructor">Type constructor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_conversion" title="Type conversion">Type conversion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_system" title="Type system">Type system</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_theory" title="Type theory">Type theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Variable_(computer_science)" title="Variable (computer science)">Variable</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235" /></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Semantic_Web71" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Semantic_Web" title="Template:Semantic Web"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Semantic_Web" title="Template talk:Semantic Web"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Semantic_Web" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Semantic Web"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Semantic_Web71" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Semantic_Web" title="Semantic Web">Semantic Web</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Background</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Database" title="Database">Databases</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hypertext" title="Hypertext">Hypertext</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Internet" title="Internet">Internet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ontology_(computer_science)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ontology (computer science)">Ontologies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantics_(computer_science)" title="Semantics (computer science)">Semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_network" title="Semantic network">Semantic networks</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/World_Wide_Web" title="World Wide Web">World Wide Web</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Sub-topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Dataspaces" class="mw-redirect" title="Dataspaces">Dataspaces</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hyperdata" title="Hyperdata">Hyperdata</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linked_data" title="Linked data">Linked data</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rule-based_system" title="Rule-based system">Rule-based systems</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Applications</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_analytics" title="Semantic analytics">Semantic analytics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_broker" title="Semantic broker">Semantic broker</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_computing" title="Semantic computing">Semantic computing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_mapper" title="Semantic mapper">Semantic mapper</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_matching" title="Semantic matching">Semantic matching</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_publishing" title="Semantic publishing">Semantic publishing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_reasoner" title="Semantic reasoner">Semantic reasoner</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_search" title="Semantic search">Semantic search</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_service-oriented_architecture" title="Semantic service-oriented architecture">Semantic service-oriented architecture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_wiki" title="Semantic wiki">Semantic wiki</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Solid_(web_decentralization_project)" title="Solid (web decentralization project)">Solid</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Collective_intelligence" title="Collective intelligence">Collective intelligence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Description_logic" title="Description logic">Description logic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Folksonomy" title="Folksonomy">Folksonomy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geotagging" title="Geotagging">Geotagging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Information_architecture" title="Information architecture">Information architecture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/IXBRL" class="mw-redirect" title="IXBRL">iXBRL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Knowledge_extraction" title="Knowledge extraction">Knowledge extraction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Knowledge_management" title="Knowledge management">Knowledge management</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Knowledge_representation_and_reasoning" title="Knowledge representation and reasoning">Knowledge representation and reasoning</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Library_2.0" title="Library 2.0">Library 2.0</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Digital_library" title="Digital library">Digital library</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Digital_humanities" title="Digital humanities">Digital humanities</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Metadata" title="Metadata">Metadata</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">References</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Topic_map" title="Topic map">Topic map</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_2.0" title="Web 2.0">Web 2.0</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_engineering" title="Web engineering">Web engineering</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_Science_Trust" title="Web Science Trust">Web Science Trust</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Standards</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Syntax and supporting technologies</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/HTTP" title="HTTP">HTTP</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Internationalized_Resource_Identifier" title="Internationalized Resource Identifier">IRI</a> <ul><li><small><a href="/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier" title="Uniform Resource Identifier">URI</a></small></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework" title="Resource Description Framework">RDF</a> <ul><li><small><a href="/wiki/Semantic_triple" title="Semantic triple">triples</a></small></li> <li><small><a href="/wiki/RDF/XML" title="RDF/XML">RDF/XML</a></small></li> <li><small><a href="/wiki/JSON-LD" title="JSON-LD">JSON-LD</a></small></li> <li><small><a href="/wiki/Turtle_(syntax)" title="Turtle (syntax)">Turtle</a></small></li> <li><small><a href="/wiki/TriG_(syntax)" title="TriG (syntax)">TriG</a></small></li> <li><small><a href="/wiki/Notation3" title="Notation3">Notation3</a></small></li> <li><small><a href="/wiki/N-Triples" title="N-Triples">N-Triples</a></small></li> <li><small><a href="/wiki/TriX_(serialization_format)" title="TriX (serialization format)">TriX</a> (no W3C standard)</small></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Research_Resource_Identifier" class="mw-redirect" title="Research Resource Identifier">RRID</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/SPARQL" title="SPARQL">SPARQL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/XML" title="XML">XML</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_HTML" title="Semantic HTML">Semantic HTML</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Schemas, ontologies and rules</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Common_Logic" title="Common Logic">Common Logic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_Ontology_Language" title="Web Ontology Language">OWL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RDF_Schema" title="RDF Schema">RDFS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rule_Interchange_Format" title="Rule Interchange Format">Rule Interchange Format</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_Web_Rule_Language" title="Semantic Web Rule Language">Semantic Web Rule Language</a></li> <li><a href="/w/index.php?title=Application-Level_Profile_Semantics_(ALPS)&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Application-Level Profile Semantics (ALPS) (page does not exist)">ALPS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/SHACL" title="SHACL">SHACL</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Semantic annotation</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Embedded_RDF" title="Embedded RDF">eRDF</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/GRDDL" title="GRDDL">GRDDL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Microdata_(HTML)" title="Microdata (HTML)">Microdata</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Microformat" title="Microformat">Microformats</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RDFa" title="RDFa">RDFa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/SAWSDL" title="SAWSDL">SAWSDL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Facebook_Platform" title="Facebook Platform">Facebook Platform</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Common vocabularies</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/DOAP" title="DOAP">DOAP</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dublin_Core" title="Dublin Core">Dublin Core</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/FOAF" title="FOAF">FOAF</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Schema.org" title="Schema.org">Schema.org</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantically_Interlinked_Online_Communities" title="Semantically Interlinked Online Communities">SIOC</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simple_Knowledge_Organization_System" title="Simple Knowledge Organization System">SKOS</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Microformat vocabularies</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/HAtom" title="HAtom">hAtom</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/HCalendar" title="HCalendar">hCalendar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/HCard" title="HCard">hCard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/HProduct" title="HProduct">hProduct</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/HRecipe" title="HRecipe">hRecipe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/HReview" title="HReview">hReview</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235" /></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Web_syndication243" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible mw-collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Web_syndication" title="Template:Web syndication"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Web_syndication" title="Template talk:Web syndication"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Web_syndication" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Web syndication"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Web_syndication243" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Web_syndication" title="Web syndication">Web syndication</a></div></th></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <dl><dt>History</dt> <dd><a href="/wiki/History_of_blogging" title="History of blogging">Blogging</a></dd> <dd><a href="/wiki/History_of_podcasting" title="History of podcasting">Podcasting</a></dd> <dd><a href="/wiki/Vlog#History" title="Vlog">Vlogging</a></dd> <dd><a href="/wiki/History_of_web_syndication_technology" title="History of web syndication technology">Web syndication technology</a></dd></dl> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Niche_blogging" title="Niche blogging">Types</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Art_blog" title="Art blog">Art</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mormon_blogosphere" title="Mormon blogosphere">Bloggernacle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Classical_music_blog" title="Classical music blog">Classical music</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Corporate_blog" title="Corporate blog">Corporate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dream_diary" title="Dream diary">Dream diary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edublog" title="Edublog">Edublog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Electronic_journal" class="mw-redirect" title="Electronic journal">Electronic journal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Astroturfing" title="Astroturfing">Fake</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_family-and-homemaking_blogs" title="List of family-and-homemaking blogs">Family</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fashion_blog" title="Fashion blog">Fashion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Food_blogging" title="Food blogging">Food</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Health_blog" title="Health blog">Health</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blawg" class="mw-redirect" title="Blawg">Law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lifelog" title="Lifelog">Lifelog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MP3_blog" title="MP3 blog">MP3</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Citizen_journalism" title="Citizen journalism">News</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Photoblog" title="Photoblog">Photoblog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Police_blog" title="Police blog">Police</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blog#Political_impact" title="Blog">Political</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Project_diary" title="Project diary">Project</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reverse_blog" title="Reverse blog">Reverse</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Travel_blog" class="mw-redirect" title="Travel blog">Travel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Warblog" class="mw-redirect" title="Warblog">Warblog</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Technology</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">General</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/BitTorrent" title="BitTorrent">BitTorrent</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feed_URI_scheme" title="Feed URI scheme">Feed URI scheme</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Features</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Linkback" title="Linkback">Linkback</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Permalink" title="Permalink">Permalink</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ping_(blogging)" title="Ping (blogging)">Ping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pingback" title="Pingback">Pingback</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reblogging" title="Reblogging">Reblogging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Refback" title="Refback">Refback</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rollback_(data_management)" title="Rollback (data management)">Rollback</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trackback" title="Trackback">Trackback</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Mechanism</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Thread_(Internet)" class="mw-redirect" title="Thread (Internet)">Thread</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geotagging" title="Geotagging">Geotagging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RSS_enclosure" title="RSS enclosure">RSS enclosure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/FeedSync#Examples" title="FeedSync">Synchronization</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Memetics" title="Memetics">Memetics</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Atom_(web_standard)" title="Atom (web standard)">Atom feed</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Data_feed" title="Data feed">Data feed</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Photofeed" title="Photofeed">Photofeed</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Product_feed" title="Product feed">Product feed</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework" title="Resource Description Framework">RDF feed</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_feed" title="Web feed">Web feed</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/RSS" title="RSS">RSS</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/GeoRSS" title="GeoRSS">GeoRSS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Media_RSS" title="Media RSS">MRSS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RSS_TV" title="RSS TV">RSS TV</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Social</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Inter-process_communication" title="Inter-process communication">Inter-process communication</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid)" title="Mashup (web application hybrid)">Mashup</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Referencing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RSS_editor" title="RSS editor">RSS editor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RSS_tracking" title="RSS tracking">RSS tracking</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Streaming_media" title="Streaming media">Streaming media</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Standard</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/OPML" title="OPML">OPML</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RSS_Advisory_Board" title="RSS Advisory Board">RSS Advisory Board</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Usenet" title="Usenet">Usenet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/World_Wide_Web" title="World Wide Web">World Wide Web</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/XBEL" title="XBEL">XBEL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/XOXO_(microformat)" title="XOXO (microformat)">XOXO</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Form</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Audio_podcasts" title="Category:Audio podcasts">Audio podcast</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Enhanced_podcast" class="mw-redirect" title="Enhanced podcast">Enhanced podcast</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mobilecast" class="mw-redirect" title="Mobilecast">Mobilecast</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrowcasting" title="Narrowcasting">Narrowcasting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Peercasting" title="Peercasting">Peercasting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Screencast" title="Screencast">Screencast</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slidecasting" class="mw-redirect" title="Slidecasting">Slidecasting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Videocast" class="mw-redirect" title="Videocast">Videocast</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Webcomic" title="Webcomic">Webcomic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Webtoon" title="Webtoon">Webtoon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_series" title="Web series">Web series</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Anonymous_blog" title="Anonymous blog">Anonymous blogging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blog#Types" title="Blog">Collaborative blog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Columnist" title="Columnist">Columnist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Instant_messaging" title="Instant messaging">Instant messaging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Liveblogging" title="Liveblogging">Liveblogging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Microblogging" title="Microblogging">Microblog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mobile_blogging" title="Mobile blogging">Mobile blogging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spam_blog" title="Spam blog">Spam blog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Video_blog" class="mw-redirect" title="Video blog">Video blogging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Motovlog" title="Motovlog">Motovlogging</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Media</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Alternative_media" title="Alternative media">Alternative media</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Blog_carnival" class="mw-redirect" title="Blog carnival">Carnivals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blog_fiction" title="Blog fiction">Fiction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Journalism" title="Journalism">Journalism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Citizen_journalism" title="Citizen journalism">Citizen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Database_journalism" title="Database journalism">Database</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Online_diary" title="Online diary">Online diary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_search_engines#Blog" title="List of search engines">Search engines</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sideblog" title="Sideblog">Sideblog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blog" title="Blog">Software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_directory" title="Web directory">Web directory</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Micromedia</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_of_feed_aggregators" title="Comparison of feed aggregators">Aggregation</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/News_aggregator" title="News aggregator">News</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Poll_aggregator" title="Poll aggregator">Poll</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Review_aggregator" title="Review aggregator">Review</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Search_aggregator" title="Search aggregator">Search</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Video_aggregator" title="Video aggregator">Video</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atom_(Web_standard)" class="mw-redirect" title="Atom (Web standard)">Atom</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atom_(Web_standard)" class="mw-redirect" title="Atom (Web standard)">AtomPub</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Broadcatching" title="Broadcatching">Broadcatching</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hashtag" title="Hashtag">Hashtag</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/NewsML" class="mw-redirect" title="NewsML">NewsML</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/NewsML_1" class="mw-redirect" title="NewsML 1">1</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/NewsML-G2" class="mw-redirect" title="NewsML-G2">G2</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Communication" title="Communication">Social communication</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_software" title="Social software">Social software</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Web_Slice" title="Web Slice">Web Slice</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Blogosphere" title="Blogosphere">Blogosphere</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Escribitionist" title="Escribitionist">Escribitionist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Glossary_of_blogging" title="Glossary of blogging">Glossary of blogging</a></li> <li><a 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