A pointer to the list would allow you to modify whatever’s at that pointer’s address though. If you want to look at the list and not edit it you pass by const reference 99% of the time (or you pass a copy) and if your language doesn’t have that I don’t like it.
I want my language to pass by reference. I give a variable to a function and the variable in the function scope should be a reference to the same place in memory as the original variable.
How can pointers help me here? What value does it provide? Genuine question.
I want my language to pass by reference. I give a variable to a function and the variable in the function scope should be a reference to the same place in memory as the original variable.
I’m not even a C++ wizard or anything (though it’s my most advanced language) so I’m not gonna argue that is good or bad, that sounds fine to me for a wide range of applications already.
But the way is see it, pointers kinda allow you to use “raw memory” which is an actual thing that’s gonna be handled by the program one way or another, and it’s a way to relatively refer to memory for example. As some guy on stackoverflow put it “That guy at the end for the bar” vs “Bob” can be very useful. Especially when using data structures you don’t know the size of at compile time.
A pointer to the list would allow you to modify whatever’s at that pointer’s address though. If you want to look at the list and not edit it you pass by const reference 99% of the time (or you pass a copy) and if your language doesn’t have that I don’t like it.
I still don’t get the point of pointers.
I want my language to pass by reference. I give a variable to a function and the variable in the function scope should be a reference to the same place in memory as the original variable.
How can pointers help me here? What value does it provide? Genuine question.
I’m not even a C++ wizard or anything (though it’s my most advanced language) so I’m not gonna argue that is good or bad, that sounds fine to me for a wide range of applications already.
But the way is see it, pointers kinda allow you to use “raw memory” which is an actual thing that’s gonna be handled by the program one way or another, and it’s a way to relatively refer to memory for example. As some guy on stackoverflow put it “That guy at the end for the bar” vs “Bob” can be very useful. Especially when using data structures you don’t know the size of at compile time.