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    Understand and Use C Pointers

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    The document summarizes a book about C pointers. It explains that many programmers do not fully understand pointers, which are variables that contain a memory address. The book provides easy to follow information and examples about using pointers with functions, arrays, strings, and structures. It also discusses security issues with improper pointer use and why C programmers should learn how pointers work.

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    Understand and Use C Pointers

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    31482
    258 views2 pages
    The document summarizes a book about C pointers. It explains that many programmers do not fully understand pointers, which are variables that contain a memory address. The book provides easy to follow information and examples about using pointers with functions, arrays, strings, and structures. It also discusses security issues with improper pointer use and why C programmers should learn how pointers work.

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    The document summarizes a book about C pointers. It explains that many programmers do not fully understand pointers, which are variables that contain a memory address. The book provides easy to follow information and examples about using pointers with functions, arrays, strings, and structures. It also discusses security issues with improper pointer use and why C programmers should learn how pointers work.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    258 views2 pages

    Understand and Use C Pointers

    Uploaded by

    31482
    The document summarizes a book about C pointers. It explains that many programmers do not fully understand pointers, which are variables that contain a memory address. The book provides easy to follow information and examples about using pointers with functions, arrays, strings, and structures. It also discusses security issues with improper pointer use and why C programmers should learn how pointers work.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    Understand and use C pointers

    Jon Titus - July 11, 2013

    Many "freshman" programmers do not fully understand or appreciate pointers in the C language.
    When I wanted to learn about pointers—variables that contain a memory address—I took a book on
    summer vacation and could hardly wait to get back to my PC to try example programs. Pointers were
    cool and versatile. Since then I have used pointers infrequently except for a recent project that
    requires a function to operate on an array. You don't pass an entire array to a function. Instead you
    use a pointer to locate the array and a value to indicate the number of elements. Frankly, I could
    program what I needed these days without including pointers in my code, so I hardly gave them a
    thought.

    So I got quite a surprise when I saw the book,


    Understanding and Using C Pointers on the new-
    arrivals shelf at our county library's local branch. I
    checked it out and took it home. Although I have gotten
    only part way through and have skipped a few sections,
    I find the information easy to follow and replete with
    example code. Better yet, the author included many
    diagrams that show memory allocations, pointer
    connections between memory sections, and the use of
    pointers in helpful examples. I'll buy a copy of this book
    and continue reading.

    The book starts with an introduction in which the


    author, Richard Reese, explains why C programmers
    should know how to use pointers. Those reasons
    include creating fast and efficient code, the capability
    to pass large amounts of information to functions with
    an address rather than a lengthy section of code that
    moves data, and the dynamic allocation of memory. For
    me, the four chapters that explain how to use pointers
    with functions, arrays, strings, and structures provide
    the most important information and examples for
    programmers and engineers. Chapter 7, "Security Issues and the Improper Use of Pointers," looks
    interesting, but I haven't reached it yet. You might recall many hacking attacks took, or take,
    advantage of pointers used improperly in software.

    You might think, "I deal mainly with code for hardware, so pointers seem unimportant." But you
    might need them sometime, and you might need to understand how they work when you encounter
    them in another person's code:

    void allocateArray(int *arr, int size, int value)


    {
    arr = (int*)malloc(size * sizeof(int));
    ...etc
    }

    Hmmm. What are all those asterisks for?

    Reese, Richard, "Understanding and Using C Pointers," O'Reilly Media, Sebastopol, CA, USA. 2013.
    208 pages, paperback. ISBN: 978-1-449-34418-4. List price: $29.99.

    For more information, please visit this page.

    Also see:

    ● A few pointers
    ● 10 C Language Tips for Hardware Engineers
    ● Using pointer arrays to map peripherals

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