pointerz

i just need to know what a pointer really does...
can you correct me if im wrong...

so if i was to write something like..

Code:

struct char *house[] = {
                            house1
                             house2
                             house3
                                     }

does this means that if i was to do

Code:

  if (char = p_house)
       house3 = blah;

will that work if not then can you explain to me like if a 3 year old kid on how to understand .... thanx

A pointer points to a memory address, unlike variables which contain the actualy value.

Perhaps this explains a little bit on pointers and structures.

Code:

/* Definition of a structure */
struct datastruct
{
    int data1;
    int data2;
};

/* Pointer to structure */
typedef struct datastruct *pdatastruct;

/* Instance of structure */
struct datastruct mydatastruct;

/* Pointer to instance of structure */
pdatastruct *pmydatastruct;

/* Let pointer point to mydatastruct */
pmydatastruct = &mydatastruct;

/* Access to members of structure */
mydatastruct.data1 = 1;
mydatastruct.data2 = 2;

/* Acces members using pointer */
pmydatastruct->data1 = 3;
pmydatastruct->data2 = 4;

Everyone says pointers are essential....but I can't find a good use for them. Maybe thats cause I'm still programming text based RPGs

>but I can't find a good use for them.

Just take a look at datastructures like trees, linked lists, graphs etc.

Read some tutorials on C and you'll many applications of pointers.