A question about preference in C functions...
 

Are there any benefits/downsides to passing an argument as a pointer to a function as opposed to passing the variable?

For example:

void doSomething(int x);

vs

void doSomething(int *x);

it is simply different,

passing a pointer means no copy of data,
and when doSomething changes x the caller has the new value

passing by value means that doSomething has a fresh and own copy of the passed data

I see now, great thanks.

I would add that, as a rule of thumb, if you want to pass a large object, such as a struct, to the function, it is much faster to just pass the pointer. If you want to pass a large object, but don't want that object changed by the function, or want to make it explicitly clear that the function will not change the object, use a const pointer.

Awesome thanks.