What are the barriers to understanding pointers and what can be done to overcome them?

Posted by David McGraw on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by David McGraw
Published on 2008-08-08T06:17:51Z Indexed on 2010/04/10 12:03 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 243

Filed under:

Why are pointers such a leading factor of confusion for many new, and even old, college level students in the C/C++ language? Are there any tools or thought processes that helped you understand how pointers work at the variable, function, and beyond level?

What are some good practice things that can be done to bring somebody to the level of, "Ah-hah, I got it," without getting them bogged down in the overall concept? Basically, drill like scenarios.

Related posts about pointers

C++ smart pointers: sharing pointers vs. sharing data

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
In this insightful article, one of the Qt programmers tries to explain the different kinds of smart pointers Qt implements. In the beginning, he makes a distinction between sharing data and sharing the pointers themselves: First, let’s get one thing straight: there’s a difference between sharing … >>> More
handling refrence to pointers/double pointers using SWIG [C++ to Java]

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
My code has an interface like class IExample { ~IExample(); //pure virtual methods ...}; a class inheriting the interface like class CExample : public IExample { protected: CExample(); //implementation of pure virtual methods ... }; and a global function to create object of this class - createExample(… >>> More
char pointers & integer pointers (++)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
i have two pointers, char *str1; int *str2; if i look at the size of both the pointers lets assume str1=4 bytes str2=4 bytes str1++ will increment by 1 byte but if str2++ will increment 4 byte could anybody tell e the concept behind this? >>> More
Smart pointers - cases where they cannot replace raw pointers

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
HI, I have this query about smart pointers. I heard from one of my friends that smart pointers can almost always replace raw pointers. but when i asked him what are the other cases where smart pointers cannot replace the raw pointers,i did not get the answer from him. could anybody please tell… >>> More
C++ Pointers: Number of levels of Indirection

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
In a C++ program that doesn't contain legacy C code, is there a guideline regarding the maximum number of levels of indirection that should be used in the source code? I know that in C (as opposed to C++), some programmers have used pointers to pointers for a multiple dimension array, but for the… >>> More

Developer IT

What are the barriers to understanding pointers and what can be done to overcome them? - Developer IT

What are the barriers to understanding pointers and what can be done to overcome them?

pointers

c

c++

Related posts about pointers

C++ smart pointers: sharing pointers vs. sharing data

handling refrence to pointers/double pointers using SWIG [C++ to Java]

char pointers & integer pointers (++)

Smart pointers - cases where they cannot replace raw pointers

C++ Pointers: Number of levels of Indirection

Related posts about c

Categories cloud