title: Implications of using an ampersand before a function name in C++?
body: <p>Given the example: </p>
  
  <pre><code>inline string &amp;GetLabel( ) {
          return m_Label;
  };
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Where m_Label is a private class member variable. </p>
  
  <p>The way I think I understand it, this function will return a reference to the variable m_Label. What would be the implications of using this throughout my program and would it be a better to just return the value, instead of the reference? Thank you! </p>