Computer Language II

Lecture 4: Pointers

Dr. Khari Armih

khari.armih@gmail.com

June 9, 2023

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 Outline
❶ Pointer
❷ Arrays and pointers
❸ Passing array using pointer

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 Memory Basics – Regular Variables
• All variables have two parts:
– value
– address where value is stored

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 Memory Basics – Regular Variables
• So the code to declare is:

int x = 3;

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 Pointers
type *name
• Pointer is a variable
• Contains a memory address
• Points to specific data type;

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 Memory Basics – Regular Variables
• We can also declare a pointer:

int *ptr;

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 Memory Basics – Regular Variables
• and set it equal to the address of x:

int x = 3;

int *ptr;

ptr = &x;

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 Pointers
• We can have pointer to any data type
• Example:
int *xPtr;
float *yPtr;
• The * can be anywhere between the type and the variable
• Example:
int * xPtr;
float * yPtr;

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 Pointers (cont.)
• You can assign the address of a variable to a compatible pointer
using & operator
• Example:

int num;
int * numPtr;
numPtr = &num
• You can print the address stored in a pointer using:

cout << numPtr;

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 The * Operator
• The * operator allows pointers to access variable points to.
• Example:

char c = ’A’;
char *cPtr;
cPtr = &c;
*cPtr = ’B’;

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 Full Example
1 #include<iostream>
2 using namespace std;
3 int main()
4 {
5 int *p;
6 int num1 = 5;
7 int num2 = 8;
8 //store the address of num1 into p
9 p = &num1;
10 cout << "Line 10: &num1 = " << &num1 << ", p = " << p << endl;
11 cout << "Line 11: num1 = " << num1 << ", *p = " << *p << endl;
12 *p = 10;
13 cout << "Line 13: num1 = " << num1 << ", *p = " << *p << endl << endl;
14 //store the address of num2 into p
15 p = &num2;
16 cout << "Line 16: &num2 = " << &num2 << ", p = " << p << endl;
17 cout << "Line 17: num2 = " << num2 << ", *p = " << *p << endl;
18 *p = 2 * (*p);
19 cout << "Line 19: num2 = " << num2 << ", *p = " << *p << endl;
20 return 0;
21 }

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 Sample run
Line 10: &num1 = 0x6ffe34, p = 0x6ffe34
Line 11: num1 = 5, *p = 5
Line 13: num1 = 10, *p = 10
Line 16: &num2 = 0x6ffe30, p = 0x6ffe30
Line 17: num2 = 8, *p = 8
Line 19: num2 = 16, *p = 16

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 Example: Swap 1
swa1p.cpp
1 #include <iostream>
2 using namespace std;
3 void swap(int a, int b)
4 {
5 int t = a;
6 a = b;
7 b = t;
8 cout << "Inside: x = " << a <<" , "<< "y = "<< b << endl;
9 }
10
11 int main()
12 {
13 int x, y;
14 x = 1;
15 y = 2;
16 cout << "Before: x = " << x <<" , "<< "y = "<< y << endl;
17 swap(x,y);
18 cout << " After: x = " << x <<" , "<< "y = "<< y << endl;
19 return 0;
20 }

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 Sample run
Before: x = 1 , y = 2
Inside: x = 2 , y = 1
After: x = 1 , y = 2

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 Example: Swap 2
swap2.cpp
1 #include <iostream>
2 using namespace std;
3 void swap(int *a, int *b)
4 {
5 int t = *a;
6 *a = *b;
7 *b = t;
8 cout << "Inside: x = " << *a <<","<< "y = "<< *b << endl;
9 }
10
11 int main()
12 {
13 int x, y;
14 x = 1;
15 y = 2;
16 cout << "Before: x = " << x <<","<< "y = "<< y << endl;
17 swap(&x,&y);
18 cout << "After: x = " << x <<","<< "y = "<< y << endl;
19 return 0;
20 }

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 Sample run
Before: x = 1 , y = 2
Inside: x = 2 , y = 1
After: x = 2 , y = 1

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 Why Pointers
• The are two main reasons for using pointers:
• Efficiency
– Pointers are typically represented by one machine word
– Storing pointers instead of copies of large objects safes memories
– Passing pointers instead of large objects is much more efficient
• Dynamically growing data structures
– Each data type has a fixed size and memory layout
– Pointers allow us to build dynamically growing data structures by
adding and removing fixed size cells
• Other languages use pointers heavily – you just don’t see them!

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 Arrays and Pointers
• Primitive arrays implemented using pointer to block of
contiguous memory
• Consider array of 5 ints:

int arr[5];
• arr is like a pointer to element 0 of the array:

int *p = arr; == int *p = &arr[0];

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 Arrays and Pointers Cont.
• Arrays are implicitly managed using pointers and pointer
arithmetics
• Given an index, the compiler calculates an address offset that now
points to the proper array element
• It will not check whether this points outside of the array

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 Arrays and Pointers Cont.

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 Passing Arrays as Arguments
• Passing arrays by reference
– only the address of the first element of the array is passed
• Example:

int arr[10];
• can be passed to a function as follows:

void func(int array[], int size);

• call func as:

func(arr,10);

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 Example: Average 1
1 #include<iostream>
2 using namespace std;
3 float getAverage(int arr[], int size)
4 {
5 float ave, sum=0;
6 int i=0;
7 while(i<size)
8 {
9 sum+=arr[i];
10 i++;
11 }
12 ave = sum/size;
13 return ave;
14 }
15 int main()
16 {
17 int a[5] = {1,2,3,4,5};
18 // pass pointer to the array as an argument
19 float average = getAverage(a,5);
20 cout << "Average = " << average << endl;
21 return 0;
22 }
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 Passing Arrays as Arguments
• passing arrays to functions

float getAverage(int arr[], int size)

float getAverage(int *arr, int size)

• both of these behave the same way

– they take a pointer to the beginning of an array

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 Example: Average 2
1 #include<iostream>
2 using namespace std;
3 float getAverage(int *arr, int size)
4 {
5 float ave, sum=0;
6 int i=0;
7 while(i<size)
8 {
9 sum+=arr[i];
10 i++;
11 }
12 ave = sum/size;
13 return ave;
14 }
15 int main()
16 {
17 int a[5] = {1,2,3,4,5};
18 // pass pointer to the array as an argument
19 float average = getAverage(a,5);
20 cout << "Average = " << average << endl;
21 return 0;
22 }
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 In-Class Exercise
1 #include <iostream>
2 using namespace std;
3

4 void findSize(int arr[])

5 {
6 cout << sizeof(arr) << endl;
7 }
8

9 int main()
10 {
11 int a[100];
12 cout << sizeof(a) << " ";
13 findSize(a);
14 return 0;
15 }

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 Output
400
8

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 lab 4
• Write a C++ function to find the k largest elements in a given
array of integers.
• Write C++ function to find specific value in the array.
• Write a C++ function to find the most frequent element in an array
of integers.
• Write a C++ program to separate even and odd numbers in an
array of integers. Put all even numbers first, and then odd
numbers

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