C-Programming Review Pointers & Arrays
Transcript of C-Programming Review Pointers & Arrays
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Computer Science DepartmentUniversity of Central Florida
C-Programming ReviewPointers & Arrays
COP 3502 – Computer Science I
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C-Programming Review
POINTERS
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Review of pointers
What is a Pointer?
An Address!
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Review of pointers
A pointer is just a memory location. In other words, a pointer is a data type whose value
refers directly to (“points to”) another value stored in computer memory
The contents at a particular memory location are just a collection of bits – there’s nothing special about them that makes them ints, chars, etc. How you want to interpret the bits is up to you. Here’s a memory locaiton: Is this... an int value?
... a pointer to a memory address?
... a series of char values? 0xfe4a10c5
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Review of pointer variables
A pointer variable is just a variable, that contains a value that we interpret as a memory address.
Tidbit: Just like an uninitialized int variable holds some
arbitrary “garbage” value, an uninitialized pointer variable points to some
arbitrary “garbage address” Given this declaration:
char *m;
we get an uninitialized pointer thatpoints to some “garbage” value (char *)
m
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Indirection operator *
Moves from address to contents
char *m = ″dog″;
The * is a dereferencing operator “dog” is copied to the address pointed to by m
(char *)
m
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
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Indirection operator *
Moves from address to contents
char *m = ″dog″;
char result = *m;
m gives an address of a char*m instructs us to take the contents of that addressresult gets the value ′d′
(char *)
m
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
(char)
result
d(char)
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Address operator &
Instead of contents, returns the address
char *m = ″dog″,
**pm = &m;
First of all, what the heck is the **pm ??? This is a double pointer!
Yeah, I know, you wanna slap somebody!
Remember, a pointer stores an address to a spot in memory Similarly, a double pointer stores an address to a spot in memory,
and then that spot in memory also stores an address to another spot in memory Which in this case is to a spot in memory that supposedly stores a char
(char *)
(char **)
m
pm
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
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Address operator &
Instead of contents, returns the address
char *m = ″dog″,
**pm = &m;
So, pm needs a value of type char ** Can we give it *m? No – type is char Can we give it m? No – type is char * &m gives it the right value – the address of a char * value
Just accept it!
(char *)
(char **)
m
pm
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
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Pointer arithmetic C allows pointer values to be incremented by
integer values
char *m = ″dog″;
char result = *(m + 1);
Analyze this code:m gives an address of a char(m + 1) gives the char one byte higher *(m + 1) instructs us to take the contents of that addressresult gets the value ′o′
(char *)
m
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
(char)
result
o(char)
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Pointer arithmetic A slightly more complex example:
char *m = ″dog″;
char result = *++m;
Analyze this code:m gives an address of a char++m changes m, to the address one byte higher,
and returns the new address*++m instructs us to take the contents of that locationresult gets the value ′o′
(char *)
m
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
(char)
result
o(char)
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Review of pointers
Again:
What is a Pointer?
An Address!
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Pointer arithmetic How about multibyte values?
Q: Each char value occupies exactly one byte, so obviously incrementing the pointer by one takes you to a new char value...But what about types like int that span more than one byte?
A: C “does the right thing”: increments the pointer bythe size of one int value
int a[2] = {17, 42};int *m = a;int result = *++m;
(int *)
m(char)
result
42(int)
17(int)
42(int)
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Example: initializing an array#define N_VALUES 5
float values[N_VALUES];
float *vp;
for ( vp = &values[0]; vp < &values[N_VALUES]; )
*vp++ = 0;
(float *)
vp
(float) (float) (float) (float) (float)
&values[0]&values[N_VALUES]
values
(float [])0
(float)
0(float)
0(float)
0(float)
0(float) (done!)
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Example: strcpy “string copy”char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src) {
const char *p;
char *q;
for(p = src, q = dest; *p != '\0'; p++, q++)
*q = *p;
*q = '\0';
return dest;
}
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
(char) (char) (char) (char)
(char *)
src
(char *)
dest
(char *) (char *)p q
d(char)
o(char)
g(char)
NUL(char)
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Review of pointers
One final time:
What is a Pointer?
An Address!
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C-Programming Review
ARRAYS
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Review of arrays
There are no array variables in C – only array names Each name refers to a constant pointer
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Review of arrays
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Review of arrays
There are no array variables in C – only array names Each name refers to a constant pointer Space for array elements is allocated at declaration
time Can’t change where the array name refers to…
but you can change the array elements,via pointer arithmetic
int m[4];
(int [])
m
???(int)
???(int)
???(int)
???(int)
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Subscripts and pointer arithmetic
array[subscript] equivalent to *(array + (subscript))
Strange but true: Given earlier declaration of m, we all know that the expression m[2] is legal
But also, the expression 2[m] is legal! Not only that: it’s equivalent to *(2+m)
*(m+2)
m[2]
These all point to the same thing!
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Array names and pointer variables,playing togetherint m[3];
int *mid = m + 1;
int *right = mid[1];
int *left = mid[-1];
int *beyond = mid[2];
(int [])
beyond
???(int)
???(int)
???(int)
(int [])
(int [])
(int [])
(int [])
mid
right
left
msubscript OKwith pointer
variable
compiler may not catch this –runtime environment certainly won’t
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A Gift for all of you
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Demotivator Time
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Computer Science DepartmentUniversity of Central Florida
C-Programming ReviewPointers & Arrays
COP 3502 – Computer Science I