In C++ I Cannot Grasp Pointers and Classes

Question

I\'m fresh out of college and have been working in C++ for some time now. I understand all the basics of C++ and use them, but I\'m having a hard time grasping more advance

Answer 1

The point at which I really got pointers was coding TurboPascal on a FatMac (around 1984 or so) - which was the native Mac language at the time.

The Mac had an odd memory model whereby when allocated the address the memory was stored in a pointer on the heap, but the location of that itself was not guaranteed and instead the memory handling routines returned a pointer to the pointer - referred to as a handle. Consequently to access any part of the allocated memory it was necessary to dereference the handle twice. It took a while, but constant practice eventually drove the lesson home.

Pascal's pointer handling is easier to grasp than C++, where the syntax doesn't help the beginner. If you are really and truly stuck understanding pointers in C then your best option might be to obtain a copy a a Pascal compiler and try writing some basic pointer code in it (Pascal is near enough to C you'll get the basics in a few hours). Linked lists and the like would be a good choice. Once you're comfortable with those return to C++ and with the concepts mastered you'll find that the cliff won't look so steep.