Pointers
in C++ are remarkably similar to pointers in C, which is good. Otherwise a lot
of C code wouldn’t compile properly under C++. The only compiler errors
you will produce is where dangerous assignments occur. If these are in fact
what are intended, the compiler errors can be removed with a simple (and
explicit!) cast.
C++
also adds the
reference
from Algol and Pascal, which is like a constant pointer that is automatically
dereferenced by the compiler. A reference holds an address, but you treat it
like an object. References are essential for clean syntax with operator
overloading (the subject of the next chapter), but they also add syntactic
convenience for passing and returning objects for ordinary functions.
The
copy-constructor takes a reference to an existing object of the same type as
its argument, and it is used to create a new object from an existing one. The
compiler automatically calls the copy-constructor when you pass or return an
object by value. Although the compiler will automatically create a
copy-constructor for you, if you think one will be needed for your class you
should always define it yourself to ensure that the proper behavior occurs. If
you don’t want the object passed or returned by value, you should create
a private copy-constructor.
Pointers-to-members
have the same functionality as ordinary pointers: You can choose a particular
region of storage (data or function) at runtime. Pointers-to-members just
happen to work with class members rather than global data or functions. You get
the programming flexibility that allows you to change behavior at runtime.