Comments on: C++ pointers – reference and dereference operators

By: joan

joan — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:04:24 +0000

In the third box, when you write:
ptr_p = &x;

“&” is not the “reference” operator, it’s the “address-of” operator.
The “reference” operator does exists and is a different thing. It is when you declare, for example, a function taking a (const Foo& f) as a parameter. Or if you write int& y = x;

The fact that these are two very different operators that work in almost opposed ways has caused me much trouble in the past, and I assume it still confuses many people.

In the first case (Foo* y = &x;) it really returns a pointer, so for example you would use -> notation to access members.
On the other hand, when used within the type (Foo& y = x;), it means “y” can be treated as a value, and you can use . notation to access members, even though it’s not the original variable.

By: sachin pune

sachin pune — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:05:58 +0000

useful tutorial……..

By: memoona

memoona — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:13:35 +0000

great tutorial.

By: preeti

preeti — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:47:06 +0000

well done. nice job

By: harsha

harsha — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:35:42 +0000

covers important things in pointers. Thanks!

By: crazy

crazy — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 07:33:30 +0000

Gr8 Tut, helped me a lot

By: Uiop

Uiop — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:45:36 +0000

Great tutorial, helped me a lot!

By: ElNillus

ElNillus — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:52:44 +0000

Excellent tutorial, as a java/c# coder I’m trying to learn c++ and I had a hard time with the tutorials at cpp.com.

thanks and keep up the good work.