Thread: Pointer practice -- need critique please

Hi I am just learning pointers in C. I made an example program to test how they work. The program works and does what I thought it would. My question is this. My comments are how I thought that the program works. I need to make sure that what I said is true. I am pretty sure I understand what is happening but have no one to check my work.

Code:

/* 
Pointer practice using function calls. Here I set up two variables
(a) and (b). Then two pointers (pa to point at a) and (pb to point at b)
next I built two functions that will update the value in (a) and (b)
using the pointers (pa) and (pb). Notice that I do not have to use the
& symbol in the scanf because the (v) and (w) are already pointers pointing
to the address of (a) and (b) via (pa and (pb).
*/
#include <stdio.h>


void ChangeIt ( int *x, int *y );
void UserChange ( int *v , int *w );


int main (void){
	
	int a;	//	Initialize a
	int b;	//	Initialize b
	int* pa;	//	Initialize pointer pa
	int* pb;	//	Initialize pointer pb
	
	pa = &a;	//	pa = address of a set the pointer to point
	pb = &b;	//	pb = address of b set the pointer to point
	
	*pa = 10;  //	place 10 in (a) via dereferencing pa
	*pb = 20;	//	place 20 in (b) via dereferencing pb
	
	printf ( " a = %d: b = %d:\n", a, b); //   print what is in a and b
	ChangeIt ( pa ,pb );//		This calls ChangeIt with the address for a and b
	printf ( " a = %d: b = %d:\n", a, b);	//print the result of ChangeIt
	UserChange ( pa , pb);//			This uses the same technique as ChangIt 
	printf ( " a = %d: b = %d:\n", a, b);
	
	
	return 0;
}

void ChangeIt ( int *x, int *y ){

	*x = *x +5; // 	add 5 to the value at the adress pointed to by x >> a
	*y = *y - 8;//	subtract 8 from the value at the address pointed to by y >> b

	
}
void UserChange ( int *v , int *w ){
	
	printf ( "Enter a new number for a:");
	scanf ( "%d", v );   // v is already a pointer so no & is needed
	printf ( "\nEnter a new number for b:");
	scanf ( "%d", w); // v and w point to the pointer pa and pb which point to a and b
}

I know I could have change this

Code:

ChangeIt ( pa ,pb );

to

Code:

ChangeIt ( &a, &b );

and done away with pa and pb. But I wanted to play around with dereferencing as in

Code:

*pa = 10;  //		place 10 in (a) via dereferencing pa
*pb = 20;	//		place 20 in (b) via dereferencing pb

Your comments marked as "initializing" don't; you are declaring variables, but at that point they are still uninitialized and could contain anything.

Otherwise, everything looks all correct. Once you get pointer arithmetic down, you'll be all set.

Ooops. You are right I corrected the comments. Initialization is when the variable first get assigned a value otherwise it is undefined what it contains.

Here is the corrected code

Code:

/* 
Pointer practice using function calls. Here I set up two variables
(a) and (b). Then two pointers (pa to point at a) and (pb to point at b)
next I built two functions that will update the value in (a) and (b)
using the pointers (pa) and (pb). Notice that I do not have to use the
& symbol in the scanf because the (v) and (w) are already pointers pointing
to the address of (a) and (b) via (pa and (pb).
*/
#include <stdio.h>


void ChangeIt ( int *x, int *y );
void UserChange ( int *v , int *w );


int main (void){
	
	int a;	//	Declare a
	int b;	//	Declare b
	int* pa;	//	Declare pointer pa
	int* pb;	//	Declare pointer pb
	
	pa = &a;	//	Initialize pa = address of a set the pointer to point
	pb = &b;	//	Initialize pb = address of b set the pointer to point
	
	*pa = 10;  //	Initialize (a) with 10 via dereferencing pa
	*pb = 20;	//	Initialize (b) with 20  via dereferencing pb
	
	printf ( " a = %d: b = %d:\n", a, b); //     print what is in a and b
	ChangeIt ( pa ,pb );//		This calls ChangeIt with the address for a and b
	printf ( " a = %d: b = %d:\n", a, b);	//	print the result of ChangeIt
	UserChange ( pa , pb);//				This uses the same technique as ChangIt 
	printf ( " a = %d: b = %d:\n", a, b);
	
	
	return 0;
}

void ChangeIt ( int *x, int *y ){

	*x = *x +5; // 	add 5 to the value at the adress pointed to by x >> a
	*y = *y - 8;//	subtract 8 from the value at the address pointed to by y >> b

	
}
void UserChange ( int *v , int *w ){
	
	printf ( "Enter a new number for a:");
	scanf ( "%d", v );   // v is already a pointer so no & is needed
	printf ( "\nEnter a new number for b:");
	scanf ( "%d", w); // v and w point to the pointer pa and pb which point to a and b
}

Thanks for checking it over for me. I have to remember to be careful with the terms.

Code:

scanf ( "%d", w); // v and w point to the pointer pa and pb which point to a and b

This is off. v and w are not pointers-to-pointers. They are pointers that point to the same address as pa and pb.

Think like this:

Code:

UserChange ( int *v = pa, int *w = pb);   // Initialize v and w to point to the same address as pa and pb, and call the function

Thank you so much! This is exactly why I need some input.

You are right v and w do in fact contain only the address of a and b not the address of pa nor pb. My bad. They got the address of a and b from pa and pb when I used them as arguments during the function call to UserChange.

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Just to check my understanding of the terms:

Declaration: Is stating the type and name of the variable as in:

int foo; // declares an integer named foo
double bar; // declares an double floating point variable named bar
char bleap; // declares a character type named bleap
float numb;// declares a floating point variable named numb;

Initialization: Is the first time a variable is assigned a value. If not initialized it can and does contain some random undefined value.

pointer: is a variable that holds the address of another variable. A pointer must have the same type of the variable it points to.

A pointer does not point to any specific variable address until it is initialized or assigned. Uninitialized pointers contain a undefined value.

The value in the variable that the pointer points too can be changed or referenced through dereferencing the pointer.

Dereferencing: Is to obtain the value at the address the pointer is pointing at. A pointer must have an valid address of a variable of the same type to be dereferenced.

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I don't want to move on until I am sure I have a solid understand of exactly what I have learned up until now. I can see if I don't get this beginning right I will encounter problems later understanding more complex ideas.