diff --git a/chapel.html.markdown b/chapel.html.markdown
index 8b41dc32..77efbf5a 100644
--- a/chapel.html.markdown
+++ b/chapel.html.markdown
@@ -77,6 +77,15 @@ config param paramCmdLineArg: bool = false;
writeln( varCmdLineArg, ", ", constCmdLineArg, ", ", paramCmdLineArg );
// Set config with --set paramCmdLineArg=value at compile time
+// refs operate much like a reference in C++
+var actual = 10;
+ref refToActual = actual; // refToActual refers to actual
+writeln( actual, " == ", refToActual ); // prints the same value
+actual = -123; // modify actual (which refToActual refers to)
+writeln( actual, " == ", refToActual ); // prints the same value
+refToActual = 99999999; // modify what refToActual refers to (which is actual)
+writeln( actual, " == ", refToActual ); // prints the same value
+
// Math operators
var a: int, thisInt = 1234, thatInt = 5678;
a = thisInt + thatInt; // Addition
@@ -426,12 +435,19 @@ intentsProc( inVar, outVar, inoutVar, refVar );
writeln( "Outside After: ", (inVar, outVar, inoutVar, refVar) );
// Similarly we can define intents on the return type
-proc makeArray( elems: int, startNumber: int ) ref : [1..#elems] int {
- var array: [1..#elems] int;
- for idx in array.domain do array[idx] = startNumber + idx;
- return array;
+// refElement returns a reference to an element of array
+proc refElement( array : [?D] ?T, idx ) ref : T {
+ return array[ idx ]; // returns a reference to
}
-writeln( makeArray( 10, -1 ) );
+
+var myChangingArray : [1..5] int = [1,2,3,4,5];
+writeln( myChangingArray );
+// Store reference to element in ref variable
+ref refToElem = refElement( myChangingArray, 5 );
+writeln( refToElem );
+refToElem = -2; // modify reference which modifies actual value in array
+writeln( refToElem );
+writeln( myChangingArray );
// This makes more practical sense for class methods where references to
// elements in a data-structure are returned via a method or iterator