proper use of ->

i am kind of stuck with ->
i know its accessing the class member but why would you make it a pointer and not just use .
example 1:

Code:

---

class myclass
{
public:
int t;
};

int main()
{
myclass myclass;
myclass.t = 1;
return 0;
}

example 2:

class myclass2
{
public:
int t;
};

int main()
{
myclass2 *myclass2;
myclass2->t = 1;
return 0;
}

---

//////////////////////////////////////////
what is the diference then with -> , and why do you have to
make a pointer to use it

because sometimes you'll want to pass a pointer to an object into a function, or dynamically allocate memory for objects. for example, take a look at the code for the bot I'm using on our IRC channel:

Code:

---

#include <cstring>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
#include "IRC.h"

int triggers(char*params,irc_reply_data*hostd,void*conn);

int main()
{
        IRC conn;

        conn.hook_irc_command("PRIVMSG",&triggers);
        conn.start("irc.phoenixradio.org",6667,"Cherilyn","Major_Small","Squishy","");
        conn.privmsg("nickserv","identify **********");
        conn.join("#Tech");
        conn.join("#irpg");
        conn.join("#John");
        conn.privmsg("irpg-bot","login Major_Small **********");
        conn.message_loop();

        return 0;
}

int triggers(char*params,irc_reply_data*hostd,void*conn)
{
        IRC* irc_conn=(IRC*)conn;

        if(strcmp(hostd->target,"#Tech"))
        {
                return 0;
        }

        if(!strcmp(params,":!triggers"))
        {
                std::fstream file("triggers.dat");

                std::string trigger;
                std::string desc;
                std::string line;

                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\002\00315Here's a list of triggers I provide in this channel:\002\003");

                while(file>>trigger)
                {
                        getline(file,desc,'\n');
                        line="\002\0037"+trigger+"\002\00314"+desc+"\003";
                        irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,line.c_str());
                }

                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\002\00315If you have any questions about me or my triggers, contact Major_Small\002\003");

                file.close();
        }
        else if(!strcmp(params,":!new"))
        {
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\00314Welcome.  Please register your name with nickserv by typing \0037/msg nickserv register <password> <email> \00314.  If you're using the Java Chat and haven't taken a name, Please do so before registering by typing \0037/nick <newnick>\003");
        }
        else if(!strcmp(params,":!languages"))
        {
                std::fstream file("languages.dat");
                std::string line;
                getline(file,line,'\n');
                line="\00314We have people who can help you with "+line+" and more";
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,line.c_str());
        }
        else if(!strcmp(params,":!paste"))
        {
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\00314Use \0037http://rafb.net/paste \00314to paste your code\003");
        }
        else if(!strcmp(params,":!userlist"))
        {
                std::string founder;
                std::string admin;
                std::string ops;
                std::string hops;
                std::string voice;
                std::string bots;

                std::fstream file("users.dat",std::ios::in);
                getline(file,founder,'\n');
                getline(file,admin,'\n');
                getline(file,ops,'\n');
                getline(file,hops,'\n');
                getline(file,voice,'\n');
                getline(file,bots,'\n');
                file.close();

                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\002\00315Here's a list of the users with access levels on #Tech:\003");
                founder="\002\0037Founder:\002          \00314"+founder+";\003";
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,founder.c_str());
                admin=  "\002\0037Admin:\002            \00314"+admin+";\003";
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,admin.c_str());
                ops=    "\002\0037Operators:\002        \00314"+ops+";\003";
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,ops.c_str());
                hops=  "\002\0037Helper-Operators:\002 \00314"+hops+";\003";
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,hops.c_str());
                voice=  "\002\0037Voiced Users:\002    \00314"+voice+";\003";
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,voice.c_str());
                bots=  "\002\0037Bots:\002            \00314"+bots+";\003";
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,bots.c_str());
                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\002\00315If you're not on this list, see !new.  If you've registered and haven't been given an access level, ask Major_Small.  If you've been given an access level but still aren't in this list, just wait until you're added\003");
        }
        else if(!strcmp(params,":!channels"))
        {
                std::fstream file("channels.dat",std::ios::in);
                std::string chan;
                std::string desc;

                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\002\00315This is list of other channels on our network you may also find interesting:\002\003");

                while(file>>chan)
                {
                        getline(file,desc,'\n');
                        chan="\002\0037"+chan+"\002\00314"+desc+"\003";
                        irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,chan.c_str());
                }

                irc_conn->notice(hostd->nick,"\002\00315Please Enjoy your time on the network.  If you have another channel you'd like to add, Contact Major_Small\002\003");
        }

        return 0;
}

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anddos

i am kind of stuck with ->
i know its accessing the class member but why would you make it a pointer and not just use .
example 1:

Code:

---

<snip>
int main()
{
myclass2 *myclass2;
myclass2->t = 1;
return 0;
}

---

//////////////////////////////////////////
what is the diference then with -> , and why do you have to
make a pointer to use it

---

well that will crash at runtime to start with, but aside from that there are many reasons to use pointers, (they allow you to pass-by-reference and they can be used to loop over an array for starters).

the -> is really a shorthand for (*ptr). it's just so much handier to type ptr->

to give a concrete example, imagine you had a class MyClass

Code:

---

class MyClass
{
public:
    int massiveArrary[10000]; // note public vars generally bad
};

---

passing this function by value will be expensive (copying 40000 bytes on an int32 machine). if you pass a pointer it's much cheaper (only copying 4 bytes on most machines).

of course you can achieve the same effect with references, which are basically syntactic sugar for pointers.

Quote:

---

i am kind of stuck with ->
i know its accessing the class member but why would you make it a pointer

---

Part of your question is really: "what good are pointers?". Don't worry about that for now. Learn the mechanics of how to use them, and when you learn about functions, you'll learn about "passing by value" and "passing by reference" and the differences which make pointers very efficient.

Quote:

---

what is the diference then with -> , and why do you have to
make a pointer to use it

---

-> is shorthand for a combination of the dereference operator(*), which gives you the thing a pointer points to, and the member access operator(.), which accesses a member of an object. Here is an example:

Code:

---

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

class Apple
{
public:
        int num;
};


int main()
{
        Apple a;
        a.num = 10;
        Apple* pApple = &a;

        cout<<pApple->num<<endl;
        cout<<(*pApple).num<<endl;

        return 0;
}

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anddos

i am kind of stuck with ->
i know its accessing the class member but why would you make it a pointer and not just use .
example 1:

Code:

---

class myclass
{
public:
int t;
};

int main()
{
myclass myclass;
myclass.t = 1;
return 0;
}

example 2:

class myclass2
{
public:
int t;
};

int main()
{
myclass2 *myclass2;
myclass2->t = 1;
return 0;
}

---

//////////////////////////////////////////
what is the diference then with -> , and why do you have to
make a pointer to use it

---

You main should be

Code:

---

myclass2 *myclass;
myclass = new myclass2; //allocate memory for it
myclass->t = 1;
return 0;

---