diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'c.html.markdown')
-rw-r--r-- | c.html.markdown | 29 |
1 files changed, 22 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/c.html.markdown b/c.html.markdown index e5a6520f..78083ea5 100644 --- a/c.html.markdown +++ b/c.html.markdown @@ -216,28 +216,43 @@ printf("%d\n", (char)100.0); // Pointers /////////////////////////////////////// -// You can retrieve the memory addresses of your variables and perform -// operations on them. +// A pointer is a variable declared to store a memory address. Its declaration will +// also tell you the type of data it points to. You can retrieve the memory address +// of your variables, then mess with them. int x = 0; printf("%p\n", &x); // Use & to retrieve the address of a variable // (%p formats a pointer) // => Prints some address in memory; -int x_array[20]; // Arrays are a good way to allocate a contiguous block - // of memory +// Pointer types end with * in their declaration +int* px; // px is a pointer to an int +px = &x; // Stores the address of x in px +printf("%p\n", px); // => Prints some address in memory + +// To retreive the value at the address a pointer is pointing to, +// put * in front to de-reference it. +printf("%d\n", *px); // => Prints 0, the value of x, which is what px is pointing to the address of + +// You can also change the value the pointer is pointing to. +// We'll have to wrap the de-reference in parenthesis because +// ++ has a higher precedence than *. +(*px)++; // Increment the value px is pointing to by 1 +printf("%d\n", *px); // => Prints 1 +printf("%d\n", x); // => Prints 1 + +int x_array[20]; // Arrays are a good way to allocate a contiguous block of memory int xx; for (xx=0; xx<20; xx++) { x_array[xx] = 20 - xx; } // Initialize x_array to 20, 19, 18,... 2, 1 -// Pointer types end with * +// Declare a pointer of type int and initialize it to point to x_array int* x_ptr = x_array; // x_ptr now points to the first element in the array (the integer 20). // This works because arrays are actually just pointers to their first element. -// Put a * in front to de-reference a pointer and retrieve the value, -// of the same type as the pointer, that the pointer is pointing at. +// Arrays are pointers to their first element printf("%d\n", *(x_ptr)); // => Prints 20 printf("%d\n", x_array[0]); // => Prints 20 |