going through a book, and i don''t quite understand it the way the author described it. does anyone know any good primers on-line that could aid in getting me comfortable with pointers & arrays? i don''t wanna go much further without getting them down....

I have to admit array & pointers are a bit tricky to understand in the beginning.. Maybe you should start asking some questions and some of us can answer them.

for starters....
arrays make sense:

short ArrayVariable [6] would equal 5 array slots i guess (0-5), etc..

but, when you start talking about pointers it gets odd. a pointer can point to another variables "address of variable" or "value of variable" (the operator ''&'' contorls the address aspect, and "*" the value).

okay, that makes sense, i can incorp. that into my code, and see the use.

but, the book suddenly talks about how "arrays" are related to "pointers"...they have a "relationship". so could i think of an "array" as a "list" and the "pointer" points to certain numbers in that list?

and lastly, you can call a pointer in a fucntion like this:

double FunctionName (int * ParameterOnePointer, int Parameter2)
FucntionName = function name, that''s easy
int * ParameterOnePointer = a pointer being defined?
Parameter2 = 2nd parameter in the function, again easy

so when i call & define this function, i need to define what the pointer "* ParameterOnePointer" is pointing to? so would i need to add in the body of the function a line like this:

ParameterOnePointer = whatever

so then whenever i use "ParameterOnePointer" in my code it will refer to "whatever".....

and THEN as if it''s not already confusing enough you need to allocate the memory!!! (i pull my hair out now, hehe)


so you see why im confused? im one big fat noob at this, but im not giving up. but, i don''t want to make some people on the forum respond to me, i can read more....im sure there''s primers out there somewhere...if anyone can help with some tips coming from a more advanced programmer familiar with common uses that would help....thx

http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article1697.asp

ya, i noobed it....i just wanted to see if any people out there could guide me to some popular "unkown" sites or unsearchable sites...

thx :D

I''ll try to make this easy...

A pointer holds the address of the variable that it points to.

{
...
int num = 5;
int *pt;
pt = &num // hold num''s address
cout << "pt address = " << pt << endl;
...
}

OUTPUT: pt address = 0x0065fd48

Then when you "dereference" the pointer, it gives the value of the pointed to variable.

{
...
cout << "*pt value = " << *pt << endl; // dereference
// operator ''*''
...
}

OUTPUT: *pt value = 5

OK, that was the easy part -- just think of "*pt" as the same as "num".

Now for the relationship of pointers and arrays…

The name of an array is a pointer to the allocated memory.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
int array[5] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}; // "array" is a pointer
int *pt = array;
int i;
for (i=0; i <= 4; i++)
{
cout << "pt[" << i << "]= " << pt << endl;
}
getchar();
getchar();
return 0;
}

And a simple pointer function...

#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int add(int *, int *); // prototype

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
int one, two;
one = two = 2;
cout << add(&one, &two) << endl; // use ''&''
getchar(); // pause
getchar(); // pause
return 0;
}

add (int *pt_one, int *pt_two) // "*pt_one" is assigned to "one" and "*pt_two" is assinged to "two"
{
return (*pt_one + *pt_two);
}







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