The Big Programming Thread - Page 225

char *chararray = "hello"; //this is just a short way of writing the following code:
//char *chararray = new char[6];
//chararray[0] = h; chararray[1] = e; same for l,l and o; chararray[5] = '\0'; (add escape sequence, so whoever uses this string knows where it ends
//at this point, the value of chararray is just some random number. that number is the address of where the pointer points to. if that random number happens to be "42", then the first letter of the string, 'h', is located at memory location "42"

chararray[3] = 's'; //the entire string is now "helso"

char value = *chararray; //value = h; the little star is just a way to tell the compiler "don't give me the value of chararray, but instead interpret the value of chararray as a memory address, then look at what's actually at that memory address, and give it to me"
value = *(chararray+2) //value = l, charrarray+2 is just an expression, the result of which yields a temporary value, which has the same type as chararray but points to two elements "behind" chararray

char *secondarray = chararray; //secondarray points to the same string as chararray
chararray++; //now it's changed for real; the entire string is now "elso". notice that 'h' hasn't disappeared. it's still where it was before, you just don't use it anymore.
value = *chararray; //value = e

//fortunately, we backed the old point up with secondarray, so we can still print hello
cout<<secondarray<<endl; //prints hello and newline

template <typename T>
void FastList<T>::Node::Assign( const T& _data )
{
  new (data) T( _data ); // placement copy
}