Re: The best way to retrieve a returned value... by const reference?

Suppose you're calling a function that returns an object "by value".
When const access to the returned value is sufficient, you have the
choice between binding the returned object to a const-reference, and
copying the object to a local (const) variable, using copy-initialization:

 class Foo { /* ... */ };
 Foo GetFoo(void);

 const Foo& constReference = GetFoo(); // Choice #1
 const Foo constValue = GetFoo(); // Choice #2

Personally, I have the habbit to bind such an object to a
const-reference (choice #1). Thereby I hope to avoid an expensive
copy-construction, which /might/ take place when you use
copy-initialization (choice #2).