what do we mean by changing pointer type c++ code example
Example 1: pointers in cpp
#include
using std::cout;
int main() {
/*
Some things to keep in mind:
-you shouldn't circumvent the type system if you are creating raw ptrs
and don't need to "type pun" or cast (don't use void ptrs)
-ptr types only reference memory (which are integers), not actual data, thus
they should not be treated as data types
char* is just 1 byte of mem, int* is just 4 bytes of mem, etc
- '*' means that you are creating a pointer which "points" to the mem address
of a variable
- '&', in this case, means "get the mem address of this variable"
*/
void* ptr; // a pointer that doesn't reference a certain size of memory
int* int_ptr; // a pointer that points to data with
// only 4 bytes of memory (on stack)
int a = 5; // allocates 4 bytes of mem and stores "5" there (as a primitive)
ptr = &a; // can only access the memory address of 'a' (not the data there)
int b = 45;
int_ptr = &b; // can access both memory address and data of 'b'
cout << ptr << "\n"; // prints mem address of 'a'
/*cout << *ptr << "\n"; <- this will error out; a void ptr cannot be
derefrenced */
cout << *(int*)ptr << "\n"; // type punning to get around void ptr (extra work)
cout << int_ptr << "\n"; // mem address of b
cout << *int_ptr << "\n"; // data stored at b
/* -- OUTPUTS -- */
/*
some memory address (arbitrary) which contains 05 00 00 00 as its data
5
some memory address (arbitrary) which contains 2D 00 00 00 as its data
45
*/
return 0; // you only need this if "main" isnt the linker entry point
// you also don't care
// ur also probably wondering why I didn't using namespace std... cherno
}
Example 2: c++ pointers
#include
using namespace std;
// isualize this on http://pythontutor.com/cpp.html#mode=edit
int main()
{
double* account_pointer = new double;
*account_pointer = 1000;
cout << "Allocated one new variable containing " << *account_pointer
<< endl;
cout << endl;
int n = 10;
double* account_array = new double[n];
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
account_array[i] = 1000 * i;
}
cout << "Allocated an array of size " << n << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
cout << i << ": " << account_array[i] << endl;
}
cout << endl;
// Doubling the array capacity
double* bigger_array = new double[2 * n];
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
bigger_array[i] = account_array[i];
}
delete[] account_array; // Deleting smaller array
account_array = bigger_array;
n = 2 * n;
cout << "Now there is room for an additional element:" << endl;
account_array[10] = 10000;
cout << 10 << ": " << account_array[10] << endl;
delete account_pointer;
delete[] account_array; // Deleting larger array
return 0;
}