What is the Point of Pointer's

[Bill Potter]

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use
pointers instead of going direct!

[Goran Larsson]

In article <yv************ ********@comcas t.com>,
Bill Potter <lo********@com cast.net> wrote:

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use
pointers instead of going direct!

The same reason why we use pointers in human languages, e.g.
"home" instead of "17859 Main Street"
"the car behind us" instead of "car with registration no KN5567YZ"
"you" instead of "Bill Potter"

--
Göran Larsson http://www.mitt-eget.com/

[Mark F. Haigh]

Bill Potter wrote:

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use
pointers instead of going direct!

Let's say you're shopping for a car at a car dealership and the dealer
asks you which car you like, what do you do?

1. __Point__ at a couple of cars...

or

2. Go to each car, and physically move each of them directly in front
of the dealer?
Probably #1, if you're at all concerned about efficiency. You can refer
to more cars quicker by pointing at them than moving them each directly
in front of you, one by one.

Does that help?
Mark F. Haigh
mf*****@sbcglob al.net

[Allan Bruce]

"Bill Potter" <lo********@com cast.net> wrote in message
news:yv******** ************@co mcast.com...

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use
pointers instead of going direct!

for many reasons! 2 simple ones:

1) when passing a large structure to a function, we dont want to copy every
element and slow things down to a snail-pace. So pass a pointer instead,
which is very quick.

2) what if you want some information to be passed to a function and that
function modifies some data. For example a sort function. We pass a
pointer to an array to the function and let it do all the work.

Basically, pointers speed things up. They also allow dynamic memory
allocation using malloc() or equivalent. Things start to get more advanced
when you have pointers to pointers ;-)
Allan

[osmium]

Bill Potter writes:

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use
pointers instead of going direct!

In C - as distinct from C++ - using a pointer is the *only* way a called
function can alter the contents of a variable in the calling function.
Parameters are passed in C in what is called "pass by value", that is, a
*copy* is passed to the callee.

[Jan Engelhardt]

>> I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use

pointers instead of going direct!

In C - as distinct from C++ - using a pointer is the *only* way a called
function can alter the contents of a variable in the calling function.
Parameters are passed in C in what is called "pass by value", that is, a
*copy* is passed to the callee.

In fact, C++'s references could be taken as a syntactic modification of The
Pointer, e.g.:

C> void callee(int *ptr) {
C> ++*ptr;
C> }

C++> void callee(int &ptr) {
C++> ++ptr;
C++> }
Jan Engelhardt
--

[Stephen Sprunk]

"Goran Larsson" <ho*@invalid.in valid> wrote in message
news:I1******** @approve.se...

In article <yv************ ********@comcas t.com>,
Bill Potter <lo********@com cast.net> wrote:

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use pointers instead of going direct!

The same reason why we use pointers in human languages, e.g.
"home" instead of "17859 Main Street"
"the car behind us" instead of "car with registration no KN5567YZ"
"you" instead of "Bill Potter"

Actually "17859 Main St" is a pointer as well; the house itself is not.
Obviously every time you invite someone over, you'd rather give them a
pointer to your house instead of building a copy and handing it to them.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "Those people who think they know everything
CCIE #3723 are a great annoyance to those of us who do."
K5SSS --Isaac Asimov

[Default User]

Bill Potter wrote:

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use
pointers instead of going direct!

Look into a typical linked list implementation.


Brian Rodenborn

[Goran Larsson]

In article <U2************ *******@cyclops .nntpserver.com >,
Stephen Sprunk <st*****@sprunk .org> wrote:

Actually "17859 Main St" is a pointer as well; the house itself is not.
No. "17859 Main St" is the name of the house (variable).
Obviously every time you invite someone over, you'd rather give them a
pointer to your house instead of building a copy and handing it to them.

No. You give them the name of the house. The problem starts when you
move and they continue to visit the hose by its name. The pointer "home"
should have been used instead.

--
Göran Larsson http://www.mitt-eget.com/

[Michael Scarlett]

"Bill Potter" <lo********@com cast.net> wrote in message news:<yv******* *************@c omcast.com>...

I am a learning programmer in C and i want to know why some one would use
pointers instead of going direct!

Pointers are direct. That's the point!