Thread: Pointer Mock Exam Question

Originally Posted by spadez

isnt *p defining p as a pointer.

Not quite. Consider the syntax for defining a pointer and initialising it to be a null pointer:

Code:

int *p = NULL;

Notice that the type name int is part of the syntax. Compare it to this dereferencing of p to print what the pointer points to:

Code:

printf("%d\n", *p);

Now, the type name of the pointed to type is not part of the syntax.

Originally Posted by spadez

I find this slightly confusing, isnt *p defining p as a pointer. In which case how is *p "dereferencing the pointer". I might need this dumbing down a little :s

Another reason I dislike T * syntax...
You can also define pointers as:
T* p;
Which might make it clearer.
Even clearer is:
T* p1;
T* p2;
Instead of:
T *p1, *p2;

p2 belongs to the same line as the declaration, hence it is also a declaration. Merely putting "*p" somewhere does not mean you are declaring a new variable since there's no type before it. Instead it's dereferencing the pointer.