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Pointer
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Definition
Statement
Declaration of a pointer:
<datatype> POINTER <pointername>
<datatype> * <pointername>
Assignment of a value to the location pointed to:
POINTER <pointername> = <value>;
* <pointername> = <value>;
Concept
Pointers, are used to point to a location in memory. It uses 32 bits (4 bytes) so it can map 4GB of memory into bytes. Pointers can point to any strong datatype: ints, shorts, strings or even usermade datatypes. In order to point to a weak datatype like a struct, the struct would have to encapsulated in a user defined datatype.
Example
Program pointers; Private int my_int; int pointer my_int_pointer; Begin my_int_pointer = &my_int; my_int = 3; say(my_int); say(*my_int_pointer); *my_int_pointer = 4; say(my_int); say(*my_int_pointer); Repeat frame; Until(key(_esc)) End
The & (offset) operator, when used with pointers, returns a void pointer to a variable. In the example it returns an int pointer to the variable my_int. The * (pointer) operator, when used with pointers, makes it so the pointer variable is not accessed, but the variable it's pointing to. In the example it changes access from my_int_pointer to my_int.