Questions tagged [pointers]
A pointer is a data type whose value refers directly to (or "points to") another value stored elsewhere in the computer memory using its address.
141
questions
1
vote
7
answers
342
views
Is it possible to introduce Pointers to a weakly typed programming language?
Most weakly typed languages do not have a concept of a pointer. Instead, most of them use references. However, is it possible to introduce pointers to such a language.
From a naive point of view, to ...
- 121
1
vote
4
answers
359
views
Passing arrays as global variables instead of pointers in C
I'm required to write the Low-Level Requirements of a Software Component which shall perform signal processing over arrays of 200k elements of integers/floats which lives in the main memory of the ...
- 31
0
votes
1
answer
74
views
Avoiding repeating code when assigning pointer addresses based on branch
I have the following code in C that reads data off a char array and makes decisions on what variables should some pointers point to.
char preset1[20];
char preset1Name[20];
int preset1Temp;
int ...
- 151
0
votes
1
answer
95
views
Is it safe to make training data and labels as global variables in C?
I'm trying to make this function called walk in C. The idea is that the function takes as parameters a point in space (represented by an array), a function (pointer), and a step size / learning rate ...
- 413
2
votes
2
answers
804
views
Reference variable vs Alias
When I started programming, I learned what Pointers are in C++. In Java, references are variables which hold the address of an object. So conceptually it's a pointer, without the ability to directly ...
- 89
7
votes
1
answer
182
views
What is the term used to describe the number of times a pointer can be dereferenced?
For example, which term completes the sentence "p has 5 ____" in order to describe a situation like int *****p?
- 79
0
votes
1
answer
312
views
Implement Dependency Inversion in C with UML diagram
As per Robert C. Martin in Clean Architecture, he gives a simple UML diagram to illustrate Dependency Inversion.
To put it simply, HL1 initially referred to ML1 without interface to invoke F() ...
- 185
-1
votes
5
answers
2k
views
In C++, does dereferencing a nullptr itself cause undefined behaviour, or is it the acting upon the dereferenced pointer which is undefined?
I happen to have a reason why I might want to dereference a nullptr.
Of course when I do, my program crashes, and from what I gather, this is due to the compiler playing it safe and stopping my ...
- 3,593
1
vote
4
answers
8k
views
C++: Is a pointer to a vector going to cause memory issues?
I started to write a function which had a pointer to a vector as a parameter so that it could modify that vector to output results (as the actual return value was an error code), when I started to ...
2
votes
2
answers
267
views
Can you define node pointers in a base binary tree class?
I've created two separate binary tree classes, with some shared functions/variables and some that are not shared. So I have tried to abstract away the similarities in a base BinaryTree class.
class ...
- 31
0
votes
1
answer
118
views
What design pattern (if so) did I apply? How can I further improve it?
Suppose I have a program.c that needs element_123 to do some operations, and element_123 can be accessed by including agent.h
/*program.c*/
#include "agent.h"
uint32_t element_123 = 0;
...
- 185
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to store a vector of smart pointers, except some of them are owned by another object?
I'm making a basic platformer game. I have a Game class as well as Level class. The game object holds a pointer to the current Level object. A level currently has a std::vector of GameObject raw ...
- 147
8
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What are the pros and cons of using a reference/pointer vs an ID
I'm writing in C++, but this problem applies to any language without GC and even to languages with a GC as well.
I have a structure in memory in which I create/add objects. The structure takes ...
- 253
63
votes
10
answers
19k
views
I never use pointers in my C++ code. Am I coding C++ wrong? [closed]
This question may sound strange to you, but I am learning C++ all by myself. I have nobody whom I could ask for mentoring and I would be very glad for some advice.
I have started recently to program ...
- 627
-2
votes
2
answers
172
views
What is the correct use of -> operator when working with pointers?
I'm pretty new with C so I have encountered many doubts with pointers.
I've already search a lot about this but there are some things that still are not clear for me, and I also think this will help ...
2
votes
1
answer
824
views
How to efficiently access public static variables/methods of the correct derived class?
I have an arbitrary number of derived classes all inheriting from the same base class. These derived classes all have the same static variables and static methods, although the implementations may ...
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
Should I always allocate QObject and derived classes to the heap?
I was in #Qt irc channel, and I showed a small snippet of my code in a style that I heavily rely upon. It looks like this:
/* Get Reply from Server */
QPointer<QNetworkReply> reply;
{
...
- 3,593
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
From a language design perspective, is the reference type in C++ mis-designed
Besides the fact that all primitive types of C++ are copy assignable except the reference type, it also doesn't play well with containers or any other parts of the language where copy-assignable ...
- 187
5
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Why do we need to specify the type of data a pointer will hold, if all pointers are the same [duplicate]
Why do we need to specify the type of the data whose address, a pointer will hold, if all pointers are the same.
Since all pointers store addresses.
Also, the amount of space a pointer will require in ...
- 59
-1
votes
1
answer
179
views
Pointers and Values in C
I do a lot of work in various languages, most of which are scripting languages such as JavaScript, Shell Scripting, PHP and so on. But I do also work a lot with Java, which is closer to a more "real" ...
- 109
0
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What is the safest practice in handling QWidget pointer lifespan in a QObject oriented environment?
Consider the following constructor:
NetworkTools::NetworkTools(QObject *parent) : QObject(parent)
{
view = new QWebEngineView();
view->setParent(parent); // Produces an error, shown below.
...
- 3,593
4
votes
1
answer
853
views
C++ Are members of a class pointer automatically on heap?
Let's say we have a struct Vector2i { int x = 0, int y = 0 };
And create a Pointer to it via Vector2i* pointer = new Vector2i;
Where would int x and int y be stored? Heap or stack?
Are all members ...
- 51
1
vote
2
answers
292
views
Setting a pointer to NULL on failure?
I've been modifying some code written by a previous employee and came across a function with the following signature:
BOOL WINAPI PrependPadding(
_In_ SIZE_T cbPadding,
_In_ SIZE_T cbRow,
...
- 341
19
votes
3
answers
2k
views
When & why did pointers start to become viewed as risky?
It seems that there has been a gradual shift in thinking about the use of pointers in programming languages such that it became generally accepted that pointers were considered risky (if not outright "...
- 487
-1
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why is it possible to access an array out of bounds with negative indexes much further than with positive indexes?
I have written two small programs in which I declare a very small array.
Then I try to access values out of bounds.
The interesting thing I noticed that when I try to decrement the index I can ...
- 2,297
26
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Why does a long int take 12 bytes on some machines?
I noticed something strange after compiling this code on my machine:
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hello, World!\n");
int a,b,c,d;
int e,f,g;
long int h;
...
- 2,297
1
vote
1
answer
130
views
What kind of pointer bug is this specifically?
UncommentatedPannen's (pannenkoek2012) newest video describes a glitch in the Nintendo 64 game Super Mario 64, which allows an object to push Mario out of bounds, which isn't normally possible, by ...
- 165
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
How to avoid lots of ugly pointer casting when using a container in C?
Let's say I have a container in C, for example something similar to C++' std::deque:
struct deque
{
// blah
};
struct deque* deque_create(size_t element_size, size_t init_deq_size);
void* ...
- 3,883
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Should opaque pointers be pointers or types?
A common way to implement "PIMPL" in C is to do this:
typedef struct _Opaque Opaque;
Opaque* createOpaque();
void doSomething(Opaque *opaque);
Or:
typedef struct _Opaque* Opaque;
Opaque ...
- 239
6
votes
4
answers
856
views
Refactor big C++ application to prevent from bad pointer
In application which has about 1.5 mln lines of code there is using many pointers as a class members and in other places in code. Classes are usually very huge.
It is possible to change to make it ...
- 79
-1
votes
1
answer
526
views
GO - How to define methods of named type?
In GO, rule is, methods can be defined only on named type and pointer to named type.
In C, below code, operations are defined on type(say List),
typedef struct List List; //list.h
typedef struct {
...
- 2,255
5
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Type safety - GO vs C pointers
C is a static-typed language that is not type-safe, because pointers(void *y) let you do pretty much anything you like, even things that will crash your program.
GO is also a static typed language
...
- 2,255
1
vote
1
answer
56
views
How to avoid fetching additional informations when instantiating objects
I'm creating an HTML5 game using javascript and have got some problems during the first instantiation of the objects of the scene.
Scenario
Self-written 2d game engine that supports multiple ...
user242937
1
vote
3
answers
2k
views
Is it possible to deliberately break RAM using pointers?
Is it possible to intentionally stress and break part of a computer on a mechanical level using the specificity of C/C++ in targeting addresses? All of this talk of addresses and pointers is not a ...
- 129
2
votes
5
answers
2k
views
What value does the byte pointed by null pointer have?
I know that long time ago computer scientists decided to treat all pointers to memory cell of address 0 as NULL. However, the memory cell at that address does exists after all, right? In that case, ...
- 139
2
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Struct "prototypes" in (plain)C?
As the title says, can it be done?
struct Room{
char *type; //Lecture hall, laboratory, etc.
char *name;
int *capacity; //How may people it can hold
struct Building *building;
};
...
- 131
8
votes
6
answers
4k
views
In C++; How big should an object [that will be transferred between functions] be before I consider delegating it to the heap?
In my day to day programming, I tend to use very few pointers, not only because I want to keep my code simple and error free, but because I assume that the programming that I do does not have any ...
- 3,593
3
votes
1
answer
127
views
Why are pointers of structs not printed like pointers of variables? [closed]
Consider the following code:
package main
import "fmt"
type Vertex struct {
X, Y int
}
var (
i = 10
p = &i
v = Vertex{1,2}
q = &v
)
func main() {
fmt.Println(p) // ...
- 41
9
votes
6
answers
2k
views
In C, is * an operator, or part of a type in a declaration?
In C, * is called the indirection operator or the dereference operator. I understand how it works when it is used in a statement. It makes sense to write *p or * p, considering that it is a unary ...
- 151
0
votes
2
answers
217
views
What's the difference between writing to the memory address of a declared int and writing directly to an int*?
I'm writing a program in which I fscanf a file and write to the same memory address repeatedly. I tried the following:
FILE *f = fopen(fname, "r");
int* num;
while(fscanf(f, "%d,", num) != EOF)
{
...
- 29
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
Passing by refernce
I am trying to understand the ideas of pointers and references in C++. I am stuck with the following, what would be the specific behaviour in this case? I have a class like this:
class MyClass{
...
- 137
10
votes
4
answers
15k
views
In C++, why shouldn't all function parameters be references?
I am currently learning C++ from the C++ Primer 5th edition. The book's chapter on functions states that only large objects (large being relative as standard library strings count, but "primitive ...
- 879
1
vote
1
answer
196
views
Static memory idiom
I am on a micro controller (which means I can only have static memory allocation) and I am trying to work with inheritance.....
Suppose I have a abstract class Image and an abstract class Font. An ...
- 209
0
votes
1
answer
980
views
How to call an unknown member function through an instance of a related class?
I have two classes. The first, called Game_Events, controls the objects and manages the general tasks. The second, called Button, is for one of those object instances.
The example below is wrong but ...
4
votes
4
answers
1k
views
When should a function take a pointer for a collection to fill vs returning a pointer with a filled collection?
In C++ I frequently see these two signatures used seemingly interchangeably:
void fill_array(Array<Type>* array_to_fill);
Array<Type>* filled_array();
I imagine there is a subtle ...
- 611
2
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Do I have to fork a server program as an "C" child process in order for correct interprocess communication to take place?
I would like to implement interprocess communication between an Ubuntu Linux 15.10 mono 4.1.2 C# recorder client and Ubuntu Linux 15.10 mono 4.1.2 C# video server using a C++ mutex class and C++ ...
- 215
3
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is it possible to have pointers recursively point into themselves?
I have been learning C++ recently, and upon reading up on pointers I had a moment of thought.
I'm still attempting to grasp the very idea of pointers so excuse me if this doesn't make sense beyond ...
- 177
1
vote
2
answers
255
views
Declaration confusion in pointers [closed]
I was just confused about the following declaration in C:
char **p[5]
I understand the char *p[] as an array of character pointers, but this one is puzzling me. Based on the precedence of [] over *, ...
- 1,269
1
vote
1
answer
324
views
Containers and shared ownership within a class instance
I have two objects as member variables of a class.
std::unique_ptr<Object> specificObject;
std::vector<std::unique_ptr<Object>> objects;
I know that specificObject will always be ...
- 373
27
votes
11
answers
16k
views
Isn't the use of pointer variables a memory overhead?
In languages like C and C++, while using pointers to variables we need one more memory location to store that address. So isn't this a memory overhead? How is this compensated? Are pointers used in ...
- 1,137