POINTER

POINTER

To create linked list in C/C++ we must have a clear understanding about pointer. Now I will explain in brief what is pointer and how it works.

A pointer is a variable that contains the address of a variable. The question is why we need pointer? Or why it is so powerful? The answer is they have been part of the C/C++ language and so we have to use it. Using pointer we can pass argument to the functions. Generally we pass them by value as a copy. So we cannot change them. But if we pass argument using pointer, we can modify them. To understand about pointers, we must know how computer store variable and its value. Now, I will show it here in a very simple way.

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
 
int main()
{
      int a = 50;       // initialize integer variable a
      cout<<"The value of 'a': "<<a<<endl; // show the output of a
 
      int * b;          // declare an integer pointer b
      b = &a;           // transfer the address of 'a' to pointer 'b'
      *b = 100;         // change the value of 'a' using pointer 'b'
      cout<<"The value of 'a' using *b: "<<a<<endl;// show the output of a
 
      int **c;          // declare an integer pointer to pointer 'c'
      c = &b;           // transfer the address of 'b' to pointer to pointer 'c'
      **c = 200;        // change the value of 'a' using pointer to pointer 'c'
      cout<<"The value of 'a' using **c: "<<a<<endl;// show the output of a
 
      return 0;
}