- This wiki is out of date, use the continuation of this wiki instead
Pointer
From FenixWiki
Contents |
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 datatype: ints, shorts, strings or even usermade datatypes.
However, using a struct pointer my_pointer is pointless, because the compiler has no knowledge of the elements inside the struct pointing to, since it doesn't know which struct is meant. MyStruct pointer my_pointer, where MyStruct is an existing struct, is also not valid, because MyStruct is not a datatype. The only way to have something like a struct pointer my_pointer is to use Type as seen in the example.
Example
Type _point
int x;
int y;
End
Type _person
string name;
int age;
End
Global
_person Person;
End
Process Main()
Private
int my_int;
int* my_int_pointer;
_point myPoint;
_person* personPointer; // possible, because _person is infact a datatype
//Person* personPointer; // not possible, because Person is not a datatype
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);
setXY(&myPoint);
say(myPoint.x);
say(myPoint.y);
personPointer = &Person;
personPointer.name = "Mies";
say(Person.name);
say(personPointer.name);
Repeat
frame;
Until(key(_esc))
End
Function int setXY(_point* p)
Begin
p.x = 3; // this is actually (*p).x = 3, but . can be used like this
p.y = 5; // this is actually (*p).y = 5, but . can be used like this
return 0;
End
Used in example: say(), key(), Type, Global, Private, point
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.
