References

[Stopher]

Hi,
Does anyone know how to define references in C++ 6.0?

Thanx,
Stopher

 

[pankajkumar]

Please elaborate more on point as what sort of references

 

[Stopher]

I'm thinking about a feature that allows you to create an alias for a variable, and use either name to access the variable.

Thanx,
Stopher

 

[pankajkumar]

did u mean something like this

int a=1,*b;
b=&a;
printf("a=%d *b=%d\n",a,*b);
*b=2;
printf("a=%d *b=%d\n",a,*b);

as pasing b value 2 will change a as well

 

[mingis]

#define new_name old_name

 

[BoulderBum]

To elaborate on what pankajkumar wrote, *variable creates a "pointer" to an address in memory.


int *ptr; //creates a pointer to an integer

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The & operator returns an address in memory. Let's say int myInt has an address of 0001 (just pretend).


int myInt = 5;
&myInt; //would return 0001, not 5

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Since ptr "points" to an address,


ptr = &myInt; //assigns the address of myInt to the pointer
//Again, since ptr points to an address
cout << ptr << endl; //would print out 0001, not 5

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To &quot;dereference&quot; a variable (get its value instead of it's address) use the * operator like so:

cout << *ptr << endl; //prints 5 instead of 0001

 

[BoulderBum]

Oh, and saying *ptr = 6 would change the value of myInt to 6.