====== Pointer in C++ ======
===== Basic concepts =====
A pointer contains the memory address of a variable.

<code cpp>
// Declare a pointer to a int variable.
int *pnPtr;
</code>

==== Address-of operator: & ====

Store the address of a variable in a pointer, by using the address of operator:
<code cpp>
// From value to pointer
int nValue = 42;
int *pnPtr = &nValue;
</code>

==== Dereference operator: * ====

Given a pointer, retrieve the value.
<code cpp>
cout << *pnPtr;
</code>

==== Null-Pointer ====
<code cpp>
int *pnPtr = 0;
// also possible, but this is C
int *pnPtr = NULL;
</code>

Used in an if condition:
<code cpp>
if (pnPtr) 
  cout << "pointer not null"; 
else 
  cout << "null-pointer";
</code>

Size of a pointer depends on the underlying OS/system (32/64 bit => 4 byte/8 byte).
===== Pointer and Arrays =====

An array is a pointer which refers to the first element of an array.
<code cpp>
int anArray[3] = {3, 5, 7};
cout << *anArray; // Gibt erstes Element "3" zurück
</code>

==== Pointer arithmetic ====

If pnPtr points to an integer, pnPtr + 1 is the address of the next integer.

pnPtr + 1 does not return the address + 1, instead it returns the address of the object of the type pnPtr points to.

Example.:
pnPtr points to an integer (4 bytes)
pnPtr + 2 means 2 integers after pnPtr, which results in 8 adresses after pnPtr.

The data type size can be returned with ''sizeof()''.

//Scaling//: The compiler multiplies the integer operand with the size of the object which is pointed to.


=== Array example: ===

Given the following example:
<code cpp>
int anArray[3] = {3, 5, 7};
</code>
anArray is a pointer to anArray[0] (it is &anArray[0]).
anArray + 1 is a pointer to anArray[i].

Access to the second element of the above array:
<code cpp>
int anArray[3] = {3, 5, 7};
cout << *(anArray + 1); // Returns element "5"
</code>

===== Dynamic memory allocation =====

==== Einzelne Variablen ====
<code cpp>
int *pnValue = new int;
</code>

//new//-Operator allocates space on the heap and returns the address of the variable which was allocated.


Release allocated memory
<code cpp>
delete pnValue; // Delete memory on which the pointer points
pnValue = 0; // Set null pointer
</code>

==== Arrays ====
<code cpp>
// Speicher allokieren
int *pnArray = new int[10];
// Freigeben
delete[] pnArray;
pnArray = 0;
</code>

==== Multidimensional arrays ====

Since an array is a pointer, a array of array can be seen as a pointer to pointers.

A 2dimensional array can declared as follows:

<code cpp>
int x = 5;
int y = 5;
// int* arr would declare a pointer to a array of ints
int** arr = new int*[x]; // declares a pointer to an array of pointers
for(int i = 0; i < x; ++i)
   arr[i] = new int[y];
</code>

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8767166/passing-a-2d-array-to-a-c-function

===== const =====

Konstanter Pointer:
<code cpp>
int nValue = 1;
int *const pnPtr = &nValue;
</code>

nValue ist nicht konstant, und Wert von nValue kann mit *pnPtr = 2 geändert werden.

===== Referenzen =====

Konstante, die als Alias für eine andere Variable dient
<code cpp>
int nValue = 5;
int &rnRef = nValue;
nValue++;
cout << rnRef; // 6
</code>

Konstante (Const) Referenzen verbieten Änderung des Wertes der Referenz
<code cpp>
const int &rnRef = nValue;
</code>
===== Member Selection =====
<code cpp>
(*psSomething).nValue = 5;
psSomething->nValue = 5;
</code>

===== Function pointer =====

<code cpp>
// Pointer f to a function, which returns void and has no parameters
void (*f) (void)
// Pointer f to a function, which returns a void pointer and has a void pointer as parameter
void *(*f)(void *)
// Function can be called like this:
f();
// Pointer func2, which returns a pointer to a char and takes a pointer to a const char and an int as a parameter.
char * (*func2)(const char *, int) = strchr;
</code>