Very simple pointer question
Ok, I have an extremely simple program. This compiles and (as far as I know) it works fine.
Code:
#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int localvariable = 5;
int age = 16;
int * pVariable = &localvariable;
cout << "Localvariable is " << localvariable << endl;
cout << "*pVariable points to localvariable " << endl;
cout << "*pVariable is " << *pVariable << endl;
cout << "Now I want to change what *pVariable points to " << endl;
pVariable = &age;
cout << "Age is " << age << endl;
cout << "*pVariable = &age" << endl;
cout << "*pVariable is " << *pVariable << endl;
getch();
return 0;
}
simple enough. However I never called delete on the pointer, aren't you supposed to always do that? However in this code, when I call delete on pVariable, I get a runtime error
Code:
#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int localvariable = 5;
int age = 16;
int * pVariable = &localvariable;
cout << "Localvariable is " << localvariable << endl;
cout << "*pVariable points to localvariable " << endl;
cout << "*pVariable is " << *pVariable << endl;
cout << "Now I want to change what *pVariable points to " << endl;
pVariable = &age;
cout << "Age is " << age << endl;
cout << "*pVariable = &age" << endl;
cout << "*pVariable is " << *pVariable << endl;
delete pVariable; //<--THIS IS THE ONLY CHANGE
getch();
return 0;
}
Why does the top code work, but the bottom code doesn't?
