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Programming Fundamentals (COMP1112) Pointers

This document discusses pointers in C++. It defines a pointer as a variable that stores the memory address of another variable. Pointers are declared with a data type followed by an asterisk, and are initialized by assigning the address of a variable using the address of operator. The dereference operator is used to access the value of the variable at the address stored in the pointer. Arrays can also be accessed using pointers by assigning the base address of the array to a pointer. Examples demonstrate declaring, initializing, dereferencing pointers, and using pointers to traverse arrays.

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185 views16 pages

Programming Fundamentals (COMP1112) Pointers

This document discusses pointers in C++. It defines a pointer as a variable that stores the memory address of another variable. Pointers are declared with a data type followed by an asterisk, and are initialized by assigning the address of a variable using the address of operator. The dereference operator is used to access the value of the variable at the address stored in the pointer. Arrays can also be accessed using pointers by assigning the base address of the array to a pointer. Examples demonstrate declaring, initializing, dereferencing pointers, and using pointers to traverse arrays.

Uploaded by

Abdul Hafeez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Programming Fundamentals

(COMP1112)
Lecture 7
Pointers
Pointer
• A pointer is a variable that is used to store a memory address. The
reference operator is used to store the memory address of a variable
and store it in a pointer.
• Pointer is declared as:
DataType *var;
• DataType : It is the type of variable pointed by the pointer variable
• * : It indicates that the var is a pointer variable
• var: It is name of the pointer variable
Pointer in C++
Example to use pointer
int n;
int *ptr;
cout<<“enter an integer”;
cin>>n;
ptr=&n;
cout<<“value of n:”<<n<<endl;
cout<<“address of n:”<<ptr<<endl;

Next: use of void pointer


Dereference operator
• Used to access the value of variable whose address is stored in
pointer
• Denoted by *
• Also known as indirection operator
Example: use of deference operator
int a, b, s, *p1, *p2;
p1=&a;
p2=&b;
cout<<“enter an integer”;
cin>>*p1;
cout<<“enter another integer”;
cin>>*p2;
s=*p1+*p2;
cout<<s;
Pointer initialization
• The process of assigning a memory address to a pointer at the time of
declaration is called pointer initialization.
• Pointer can be initialized to any valid memory address
• It can also be initialized to NULL or 0
DataType *p= &variable;
• DataType : It is the type of variable pointed by the pointer variable
• * : It indicates that the variable is a pointer variable
• &: address operator to access memory address of a variable
• variable: It is name of the pointer variable
Pointer addition/subtraction
• Addition/subtraction operator on pointer is used to move the
reference forward/backward in memory
• Change of memory address depends on the data type of pointer
Pointer and arrays
• All elements of arrays are stored in consecutive memory locations.
• A pointer can access all elements of array if the address of first
element is assigned to it
• The name of the array represents the address of it’s first element
• The address of first element can be assigned to a pointer by assigning
the name of the array to pointer
int NUM[10];
int *ptr;
Ptr=NUM;
Example: accessing array elements
int Num[5]={10, 20, 30, 40, 50};
int *ptr=Num;
cout<<*ptr;
ptr++;
cout<<*ptr;
• Array elements can also be accessed as
cout<<*ptr;
cout<<*(ptr+1);
Take input of five integers in an array and
display them using pointer
int marks[5];
int *ptr;
cout<<“enter five marks”;
for (i=0;i<5;i++)
cin>>marks[i];
ptr=marks;
cout<<“you entered”;
for (i=0;i<5;i++)
cout<<*ptr++;
Example 1: Array of characters
char name[10];
cout<<"enter name";
cin>>name;
int i=0;
while (name[i]!='\0'){

cout<<name [i];
i++;
}
cout<<i;
Example 2: Array of characters
char name[20], *ptr;
cout<<“enter your name”;
cin.get(name, 20);
ptr=name;
cout<<“name entered is”<< ptr; //why not *ptr, it will print just first char

Note: the pointer displays the values stored in each element of the array
name until it finds null character \0
Sequential search vs Binary search
int arr[6]={10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100};
int n, mid, end, start, loc; if(loc==-1)
cin>>n; cout<<“not found”<<endl;
loc=-1; else
end=9; cout<<n<<“ found at index “<<loc;
start=0;

while(start<=end)
{ mid=(start+end)/2;
if(arr[mid]==n)
{
loc=mid;
break;
}
else
if(n<arr[mid])
end=mid-1;
else
start=mid+1;
}
References
• C++ How to Program
By Deitel & Deitel

• The C++ Programming Language


By Bjarne Stroustrup

• Object oriented programming using C++ by Tasleem Mustafa, Imran Saeed, Tariq Mehmood, Ahsan Raza

• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cplusplus

• http://ecomputernotes.com/cpp/introduction-to-oop

• http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial

• https://www.guru99.com/c-loop-statement.html

• www.w3schools.com

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