Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 10 views

    Pointers in C

    Uploaded by

    kratika
    This document discusses pointers in C programming. It covers pointer variables and how they store memory addresses, pointer arithmetic, arrays and pointers, and passing pointers to functions. The key points are that pointers allow accessing and modifying data in memory, arrays are essentially pointers, and passing pointers to functions allows modifying variables in the caller.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Pointers in C

    Uploaded by

    kratika
    10 views27 pages
    This document discusses pointers in C programming. It covers pointer variables and how they store memory addresses, pointer arithmetic, arrays and pointers, and passing pointers to functions. The key points are that pointers allow accessing and modifying data in memory, arrays are essentially pointers, and passing pointers to functions allows modifying variables in the caller.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document discusses pointers in C programming. It covers pointer variables and how they store memory addresses, pointer arithmetic, arrays and pointers, and passing pointers to functions. The key points are that pointers allow accessing and modifying data in memory, arrays are essentially pointers, and passing pointers to functions allows modifying variables in the caller.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    10 views27 pages

    Pointers in C

    Uploaded by

    kratika
    This document discusses pointers in C programming. It covers pointer variables and how they store memory addresses, pointer arithmetic, arrays and pointers, and passing pointers to functions. The key points are that pointers allow accessing and modifying data in memory, arrays are essentially pointers, and passing pointers to functions allows modifying variables in the caller.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 27

    Pointers

    Outline

    1 Pointers

    2 Pointer Arithmetic

    3 Arrays and Pointers

    4 Passing Pointers to Functions


    POINTERS

    Pointers are variables, which contain the address of some other


    variables.
    Declaration: datatype *pointername;
    e.g.int * ptr;

    The type of a pointer depends on the type of the variable it points to.
    Every pointer points to some data type.
    Sizes of basic data types

    All data is stored in memory. But different data types occupy


    different amount of memory.
    The sizeof() operator in C can be used to determine the number of
    bytes occupied by each data type.

    sizeof(int) = 4
    sizeof(float) = 4
    sizeof(double) = 8
    A SAMPLE
    PROGRAM
    #include <stdio.h>
    0 int
    main()
    1
    {
    2 int n;
    3 char c;
    4 X c int *ptrn;
    c=’X’;
    .. n=15;
    ptrn=&n;
    232 − 1
    return 0;
    }
    Memory Layout (Bytes)
    0
    1
    2 #include <stdio.h>
    3
    int main()
    4 X c
    {
    char c;
    .. int n;
    int *ptrn;
    20 0 n
    c=’X’;
    21 0 n=15;
    22 0 ptrn=&n;
    23 15
    return 0;
    }
    ..
    232 − 1
    Sample program using pointers
    ADDRESS OPERATIONS

    There are two unary operations to consider.


    The * operator: If ptr is a pointer variable, then ∗ptr
    gives you the content of the location pointed to by ptr.
    The & operator: If v is a variable, then &v is the address of
    the variable.

    *pointer
    pointer data
    & data
    POINTER ARITHMETIC

    Problem: How do we do relative addressing? (for example, “next


    element” in an integer array)
    C allows you to perform some arithmetic operations on pointers.
    (Not every operation is allowed.) Consider
    <datatype> *ptr; //datatype can be int, float, etc.
    Unary Pointer Arithmetic Operators
    Operator ++: Adds sizeof(datatype) number of bytes to
    pointer, so that it points to the next entry of the datatype.
    Operator −−: Subtracts sizeof(datatype) number of bytes to
    pointer, so that it points to the next entry of the datatype.
    POINTER ARITHMETIC - EXAMPLE 1

    #include <stdio.h>

    int main()
    {
    int *ptr; //increments by sizeof(int) (4 bytes)
    long *ptrlng; //increments by sizeof(long) (8 bytes)

    ptr++;
    ptrlng++;

    return 0;
    }
    POINTER ARITHMETIC - II

    Pointers and integers are not interchangeable. (except for 0.) We will
    have to treat arithmetic between a pointer and an integer, and
    arithmetic between two pointers, separately.
    Suppose you have a pointer to a long.
    long *ptrlng;
    Binary Operations between a pointer and an integer
    1 ptrlng+n is valid, if n is an integer. The result is the following
    byte address
    ptrlng + n*sizeof(long)
    and not ptrlng + n.
    It advances the pointer by n number of longs.
    2 ptrlng-n is similar.
    Example of pointer arithmetic
    POINTER ARITHMETIC - III
    Consider two pointers ptr1 and ptr2 which point to the same type of
    data.
    <datatype> *ptr1, *ptr2;

    Binary operations between two Pointers


    1 Surprise: Adding two pointers together is not allowed!
    2 ptr1 - ptr 2 is allowed, as long as they are pointing to elements
    of the same array. The result is
    ptr1 - ptr2
    sizeof(datatype)

    In other settings, this operation is undefined (may or may not give


    the correct answer).
    Example of pointer subtraction to find the
    length of the array
    POINTER ARITHMETIC - IV

    If we can subtract a pointer from another, all the relational


    operations can be supported!
    Logical Operations on Pointers
    1 ptr1 > ptr2 is the same as ptr1 - ptr2 > 0, ptr1 =
    2 ptr2 is the same as ptr1 - ptr2 = 0, ptr1 < ptr2 is
    3 the same as ptr1 - ptr2 < 0, and so on.
    4
    ARRAYS AND POINTERS

    Array names essentially are pointers. Array elements are stored in


    contiguous (consecutive) locations in memory.
    For example, consider int arr[10];
    1
    arr is a pointer to the first element of the array.
    2
    That is, *arr is the same as arr[0].
    ARRAYS AND
    POINTERS

    Array names essentially are pointers. Array elements are stored in


    contiguous (consecutive) locations in memory.
    For example, consider int arr[10];

    1 arr is a pointer to the first element of the array. That is, *arr
    2 is the same as arr[0].
    3 arr+i is a pointer to arr[i]. (arr+iis equivalent to
    arr+i*sizeof(int).)
    ARRAYS AND POINTERS
    - FIGURE . . . .
    40 arr[0] = *arr = *(arr+0)
    41

    42

    43

    44 arr[1] = *(arr+1)
    45

    46

    47

    48 arr[2] = *(arr+2)
    49

    50

    51

    int arr[3]; .. ..
    Printing array elements using pointers
    Passing Pointers to Functions

    Since pointers are also variables, they can be passed

    As input parameters to functions


    As return values from functions
    PASSING POINTERS - REASON 1

    Why do we pass pointer variables to functions?


    Recall the swap function which took input integers. This function
    was unable to swap the variables inside main().
    Suppose we want a swap function which is able to swap arguments
    inside the caller.
    Main idea: Pass pointers!!
    A SWAP PROGRAM USING CALL BY
    REFERENCE
    SCANF AND PRINTF

    If we want to modify data in the caller, then we pass address of the


    variables. We can see this in the difference between printf and
    scanf.
    scanf
    scanf(‘‘ d’’, &n);
    scanf needs to change the content of n. This can be done by
    passing the address of n.

    printf
    printf(‘‘ d’’,n);
    printf does not need to change the content of n.
    Passing arrays to functions

    We have already seen that we can pass arrays as input to functions.


    We also have seen that arrays are essentially pointers.
    We can pass pointers, where arrays are expected, and vice versa!
    Passing Pointers to Functions - Another Reason

    Passing a pointer to data, instead of passing the value of the data can
    be much faster.
    This is used to reduce the slowdown due to function calling.
    The decision to do this must be taken with care.
    ADVANTAGES OF POINTERS IN C

    1. Pointers are useful for accessing memory locations.


    2. Pointers provide an efficient way for accessing the elements of
    an array structure.
    3. Pointers are used for dynamic memory allocation as well as
    deallocation.
    4. Pointers are used to form complex data structures such as
    linked list, graph, tree, etc.
    DISADVANTAGES OF POINTERS IN C

    1. Pointers are a little complex to understand.


    2. Pointers can lead to various errors such as segmentation faults or can
    access a memory location which is not required at all.
    3. If an incorrect value is provided to a pointer, it may cause memory
    corruption.
    4. Pointers are also responsible for memory leakage.
    5. Pointers are comparatively slower than that of the variables.
    6. Programmers find it very difficult to work with the pointers; therefore it is
    programmer's responsibility to manipulate a pointer carefully.

    You might also like