Wikibooks

C++ Language/Indirection

< C++ Language
C++ Language
  1. Overview
  2. Preprocessing
    1. Macros
    2. Tokenization
    3. Preprocessing Strings
    4. Compile-time Constants
    5. Compile-time Assertions
    6. Conditional-Compilation
  3. Namespace
    1. Namespace Shortcuts
    2. Nesting
    3. Splitting across Files
    4. Named and Unnamed
  4. Type
    1. Hungarian Prefixes
    2. Boolean
    3. Literals
    4. Bitwise Representation
    5. Max Value
    6. Conversion
    7. Enumeration
    8. Shortcuts
    9. Variant
    10. RTTI: RunTime Type Information
  5. Variables
    1. Lifetime and Scope
    2. Initialization
    3. Uniform Initialization
    4. Initialize without Constructor
    5. Decomposing-Auto
    6. Define at Same Time as Type
  6. Indirection
    1. Pointers
    2. Typed NULL
    3. Arrays
    4. Reference Variables
    5. Rvalue-References
    6. Smart Pointers
  7. Expressions
    1. Precedence
    2. Chain of Assignment
  8. Program Flow
    1. Loops
    2. The break Statement
    3. Return Value
    4. Parameters
    5. Function Overloading
    6. Function-Pointer
    7. Deprecating a Function
  9. Objects
    1. Accessibility
    2. Unwanted Compiler-Generated Functions
    3. Constructors
    4. Destructors
    5. Const Members
    6. Static Members
    7. Inheritance
    8. Operator Overloading
    9. Nested Classes
    10. Pointer to Members
    11. Low-Level C Structures
  10. Templates
    1. Templated-Functions
    2. Templated-Classes
    3. Templated-Variables
    4. Template-Parameters
    5. Traits
    6. Metaprogramming
    7. Concepts
  11. Error Handling
    1. Returning an Error Code
    2. Assertions
    3. C++ Exception Handling
  12. Standard Libraries
    1. C-Runtime
    2. STL: Standard Template Library
    3. Strings
    4. IOStreams
    5. Filesystem Access
    6. Multithreading
    7. RNG: Random Number Generator
  13. Obsolete Features

Instead of directly referring to a piece of computer memory by the name of some variable, C++ software sometimes refers to it in a more indirect way.

A "pointer" is a variable whose value is a memory address. If iVar has already been defined as a int variable, defining int* piVar = &iVar; will use the "address-of" operator (&) to obtain the address where iVar has been stored in memory — that memory address will get stored in pointer variable piVar.

On the other hand, a "reference" (int& riVar = iVar;) doesn't create any additional storage; instead, it specifies a new name (riVar) which now also refers to that same storage location that already existed for iVar.

  1. Pointers
  2. Typed NULL
  3. Arrays
  4. Reference Variables
  5. Rvalue-References
  6. Smart Pointers
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