Glossary: lvalue

An lvalue is a value that can be modified i.e. a value that can appear on the left of an assignment (hence lvalue).

MyInt = 3;

is O.K. because MyInt is an lvalue, but

3 = MyInt;

isn't because 3 isn't. In C++ all manner of expressions, including function calls, can yield lvalues that can be assigned to. This can be a bit of a shock for a FORTRAN programmer only used to assignments to variables and array elements. For example, a dereferenced pointer and a reference can both be lvalues.

See OO Concepts: Pointers & References

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