Thread: This pointer

  1. #1
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    This pointer

    I am working with Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days and am attempting to self-teach. I am trying to grasp the this pointer and when to use it. Anyone who is willing to explain this to me please do. Thank you in advance.

  2. #2
    Guest Sebastiani's Avatar
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    Waterloo, Texas
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    Not totally sure on the exact syntax, but basically you are implicitly returning a pointer to the structure at hand. It's limited to non-static member functions.

    class foo:ublic bar{ long ID;};

    foo::BoundsCheck{
    if( this->ID <=1010101)
    return *this;
    return NULL;
    }

    Not so sure that'd compile but you get the idea.
    Code:
    #include <cmath>
    #include <complex>
    bool euler_flip(bool value)
    {
        return std::pow
        (
            std::complex<float>(std::exp(1.0)), 
            std::complex<float>(0, 1) 
            * std::complex<float>(std::atan(1.0)
            *(1 << (value + 2)))
        ).real() < 0;
    }

  3. #3
    geek SilentStrike's Avatar
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    NJ
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    Use it when you want to return the current object, or see if a passed object is the same object as the reciever of the message. For example, if you were to write your own comparsion operation for a class, it might look like this.
    Code:
    class Foo {
    public:
         bool equals(const Foo& other);
         // other stuff
    private:
         char bigString[1024];
    };
    
    bool Foo::equals(const Foo& other) {
           if (this == &other) { // compare pointers, if they are at same location, they are obviously same object, and can avoid costly bigString compare
                     return true;
           }
           return strcmp(bigString, other.bigString) == 0;
    }
    The this pointer isn't used explicitly all that much, however.
    Prove you can code in C++ or C# at TopCoder, referrer rrenaud
    Read my livejournal

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