C++ Pointers And References

Front 1

What is a pointer?

Back 1

A pointer is a programming language object, whose value refers to (or "points to") another value stored elsewhere in the computer memory using its address.

Hint 1

"Points to"

Front 2

What is dereferencing?

Back 2

A pointer references a location in memory, and obtaining the value stored at that location is known as dereferencing the pointer.

Hint 2

To obtain a ... ?

Front 3

What character is used to declare a pointer?

Back 3

Asterisk *

int* piNumber;

Hint 3

"int piNumber;" is missing a?

Front 4

What character is used to dereference a pointer?

Back 4

Asterisk *

int* piNumber;

*piNumber = 42;

Hint 4

Same as declaring a pointer, only in a different context.

Front 5

What character is used to obtain the pointer (address) of a variable?

Back 5

Ampersand &

int iNumber = 42;

int* piNumber = &iNumber;

Hint 5

It's not asterisk.

Front 6

Are the lines below equal?

int* piNumb1, piNumb2;

int* piNumb1, * piNumb2;

Back 6

No.

The first line is equal to:

int* ipNumb1;

int ipNumb2;

But the second one creates two pointers to int like expected.

Hint 6

Caveat.

Front 7

Is a declared array variable a pointer?

int aiNumbers[4];

Back 7

Yeahish, it can be implicitly converted and treated as a pointer of its type to the first element.

int iaNumbers[4];

int* piNumber = iaNumbers;

*piNumbers = 42;

iaNumbers[0] is now 42.

However accessing an element directly gets the value, so the line below is a no no.

int* ipCompilerError = iaNumbers[0];

Hint 7

Explicitly or implicitly?

Front 8

What character is used to create a reference variable to a value?

Back 8

Ampersand &

int iNumb = 0;

int& iNumbRef = iNumb;

iNumbRef = 42;

// iNumb is now 42

Hint 8

Same as the one used to get the pointer (address) to a variable.