Ch5: Pointers & C‑style Arrays

Overview

This chapter introduces three closely related ideas in C++: pointers, C‑style arrays, and C‑style strings. These appear frequently in existing C and C++ code, libraries, and examples.

Earlier chapters focused on safer containers such as ::fast_io::vector, ::fast_io::string, and ::fast_io::array. In this chapter, you will learn:

• what an address is and how pointers refer to objects
• how C‑style arrays and C‑style strings are represented
• how pointer arithmetic relates to indexing
• how to connect pointers with ::fast_io::vector, ::fast_io::array, and ::fast_io::string

A major goal is to show how pointers fit naturally into the container model you already know from Chapter 4.

Contents

• Ch5.1: Memory & Addresses
• Ch5.2: Pointer Basics
• Ch5.3: Dereferencing
• Ch5.4: nullptr
• Ch5.5: C‑style Arrays
• Ch5.6: Pointer Arithmetic
• Ch5.7: C-style Array Decay
• Ch5.8: C‑style Strings
• Ch5.9: Multi‑dimensional C‑style Arrays
• Ch5.10: const and Pointers
• Ch5.11: void*
• Ch5.12: Pointers with vector, array, and string
• Ch5.13: Strict Aliasing Rule
• Ch5.14: memfunctions
• Ch5.15: Common Pointer Pitfalls
• Ch5.16: Best Practices