question about pointers

**hoangvo** · 07-24-2005

when declaring:

Code:

Account nAcnt1;

and

Code:

Account *nAcnt2;

the latter is a pointer to Account class.

but if we go:

Code:

nAcnt2=new Account;

what do u call this new type?

**arjunajay** · 07-24-2005

We call it
"A pointer pointing to a dynamicaly allocated object of an 'Account' class."
Yes I'm trying to confuse you.

**Rashakil Fol** · 07-24-2005

Originally Posted by hoangvo

when declaring:

Code:

Account nAcnt1;

and

Code:

Account *nAcnt2;

the latter is a pointer to Account class.

Nope, the latter is a pointer to an Account object. None exists at the (uninitialized) location it's pointing at.

Originally Posted by hoangvo

but if we go:

Code:

nAcnt2=new Account;

what do u call this new type?

nAcnt2 is still a pointer to an Account object. Its type won't change. This time an Account object exists at the location it's pointing at.

**7stud** · 07-24-2005

Pointers are variables that store addresses. With this statement:

Account *nAcnt2;

you create a pointer variable called nAcnt2, which you have declared will store the address of an Account object. I prefer to use this format:

Account* nAcnt2;

That format makes it clear the variable name is 'nAcnt2', and the type is Account*.

The 'new' keyword dynamically creates an object and returns its address in memory. So, here:

nAcnt2=new Account;

you create an Account object, and assign its address to the variable nAcnt2.

**dwks** · 07-25-2005

Code:

Account a;
Account *p = &a;

Declares a pointer to a. You can access a as a or *p.

Code:

Account *p = new Account;

Declares a pointer to a newly allocated Account. But in this case, the only way you can access this Account is through *p.

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