CS204 – Advanced Programming

Pointers and Linked Lists

Part 1: Basics

1
Representation of Data
All data in a the computer’s memory is represented as a sequence of bits:
Bit : unit of storage, represents the level of an electrical charge. Can be either 0 or 1.
0 1

Byte (a.k.a Octet): 8 bits make up a byte, and a character is one byte
A byte can represent 256 (0…255) different symbols:
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 //binary representation and corresponding integer values
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  2
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1  3
...
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  128
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  129
...
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0  254
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  255

Word: typical data size used in computer

– 32 bits on some old computers (maybe in use)
– 64 bits on most current modern computers
2
Hex Numbers
Hexadecimal numbers:
– Each `digit` can take values: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F
– corresponding to values in: 0 to 15 (0-9, A = 10, B=11, C=12, D=13,
E=14, F=15)
– 4 binary digits are one hex digit
Sometimes written as 0x2435af00
e.g. 2435af00 

0 0 1 0 | 0 1 0 0 | _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _| _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _

3
Hex Numbers: ctd.

Representation and rules of arithmetic is similar to decimal, but do

not forget that the number base is 16.

0x2435AF00 + 1 = 0x2435AF01

0x2435AEFF + 1 = 0x2435AF00

4
Memory
What happens when we define variables:
char c = 'A'; 
int n = 5;    c 0x2435af00
Code of 'A' n
     0x2435af01

0x2435af00
.
01000001 c .
.
0x2435af01 00000000 n
00000000
00000000 Symbol table: variables and
00000101 5 in binary their memory addresses are
... listed here; Symbol table is
not something that you can
directly manipulate in
program
Memory: variables are stored here
5
Pointers
A pointer is a variable to store an “address in computer memory”
Thus it points to a memory location
A pointer is something you can 01000001 c
manipulate in program
00000101 n
char c = 'A'; 
char * p;
p = &c;
...
0x2435af00 p

Memory
Purpose:
– Basis for implementing linked data structures linked lists, trees, graphs...
6
– Provide dynamic memory allocation, variable-size arrays
Overview
There are a couple of things you can do with pointers:
– Declare one: int * ptr;
char * pchar;
Date * pdate

– Store a value in it: ptr = &counter;

– Dereference one: cout << *ptr;

(Access the value stored where the
pointer points to)
cout << (*pdate).Day();
cout << pdate->Day();
Now we will see them in detail.

7
 Pointers: definition
A pointer is defined as: type * pointer_variable;
e.g. char * ptr;
pointer_variable does not store a type value, but stores the address of a
memory location that stores a type value

c A
char c = 'A'; 
char *p; what happens in memory p ?
char *q = NULL    
q
You can never know to where an unititialized pointer points (i.e. the address of the
memory location that it keeps)
NULL is defined in standard header files to mean “nowhere” or ”nothing”. It can be
used as the initial value for a variable that does not point to anywhere. Normally this
value is 0 and it can also be used as nullptr 8
Pointers: “address of” operator (&)
You can store the address of variable in a pointer variable:
Actually stores
the code of 'A'
char c = 'A';  c A
char * p; .
.
p = &c;     what happens in memory .

p 0x2435af00

Means "address of c"

Be careful about the types; the type of variable used with & must be the
same as the one of the pointer’s type used with * (e.g. address of a char
variable can be assigned to a char pointer, address of int var. to int
pointer, etc.).
Assigning an existing variable’s address is not the main use of pointers; but,
this is useful in explaining the concept of address storage.
9
Pointers: dereferencing
*pointer-variable
derefence (or indirection) operator. It gives the content of
memory location pointed by the pointer-variable

char c = 'A'; 
char * p; c A
p = &c; .
.
what happens in memory .

p 0x2435af00
cout << *p;

prints the value of memory location pointed by p. This is A

and this is the same of the value of regular variable c.

just like “cout << c;” prints the value of the char variable

     A
10
Pointers: assignment

A pointer can be assigned to another pointer of the same type.

Assume we have done as before:

double n;
double * p;
p = &n;
*p = 17.5; // memory location pointed by p contains 17.5

17.5
p n
Now you can assign p to another pointer variable:
double *q;
q = p; // q and p points to the same location in memory
q
n
p 17.5 11
Pointers: definition
(what happens behind the scenes)

char c = 'A';    
char *p;     c 0x2435af00
p 0x2435af01

0x2435af00
.
A c .
0x2435af01 ? p .

. Symbol table

.
.
//a pointer uses 4 bytes of memory
when you have 32-bit adresses
Memory
12
Pointers: address of a variable
(what happens behind the scenes)
c 0x2435af00
char c = 'A';    
p 0x2435af01
char *p;    
p = &c; // p now points to c.   .
.
.

0x2435af00 A Symbol table

0x2435af01 0x2435af00

Alternative and more meaningful view:

.
c A
.
.
p
13
Memory
Pointers: dereferencing
(what happens behind the scenes)
char c = 'A';    
char *p;
p = &c; // p now points to c.   c 0x2435af00 //unchanged
*p = 'B'; p 0x2435af01
.
.
.
0x2435af00 A B
0x2435af01 0x2435af00 Symbol table

. Alternative and more meaningful view:

.
c A B
.
p
Memory 14
Some Remarks
What happens if you try to assign a string/int/double expression to a
pointer variable?
– e.g. double *q;
q = 123.45;
:syntax error

What happens if you try to access (dereference) a memory location

pointed by a pointer that is not initialized?
– e.g. double *q;
cout << *q << endl;
:a run-time (application) error occurs

What happens if you display the value of a pointer?

– e.g. cout << q << endl;
:it displays the value of q, which is the address where it points to.

Is it possible to assign an address directly to a pointer?

:yes but we need typecasting, and mostly causes a crash or an
unexpected behavior
– - e.g. double *q;
q = (double *) 0x00EFF8A8; 15
Dynamic memory allocation with new
Dynamic memory allocation using new statement
new type
– allocates enough memory from heap (a special part of memory reserved for
dynamic allocation - will discuss later) to store a type value
– also returns the address of this memory location
– need to assign this address to a pointer variable for processing

Example
double *p; //a pointer for double type, but currently points nowhere

p ?
p = new double; // memory is allocated to store a double value, but
//currently not initialized. p now points to that location

p ?
16
Pointers and Dynamic Allocation for user-
defined types/classes
You can have pointers for any type:
– built-in or user-defined types, classes and structs
– e.g. int, double, char, string, robot, dice, date, …

You can dynamically allocate memory for any type; note that
the class constructor is called automatically to construct the
object:
myClass * classPtr;
classPtr = new myClass;

17
Pointer to Class Members

Date *p_date; //preferred naming - starts with p, but not a

rule
9/3/2022
Date *p1 = new Date; //p1

Date *p2 = p1; //p2 10/3/2022

Date tomorrow = *p1 + 1; //tomorrow

3
int month = (*p1).Month(); //month
9
int day = p1->Day(); //day
ptr-> is a shorthand for (*ptr). if ptr is a pointer to a struct or a class 18
Dynamic memory allocation with new –
Allocating Multiple Variables
int *p1, *p2;

new keyword dynamically allocates enough memory for a single int, and
returns its address, which is stored in p1

p1 = new int;

In general, the new keyword dynamically allocates enough memory for the
following type and count. Pointer p2 points to the first element of the list.
This is how we generate DYNAMIC ARRAYs.

p2 = new int[4];

type count
19
p2
Allocation of multiple variables with new
Assume that we want to hold a dynamic array to hold
vacation dates of varying numbers:

cin >> num_vacations;

Date * vacations = new Date[num_vacations];

The allocated memory is a contiguous memory than can hold

num_vacations dates. Notice that you can access it like an
array (it does not change or advance vacations as a pointer;
just computes an offset from where vacations points to):
Date today;
vacations[0]= today;
vacations[1]= today + 3;

20
Allocation of multiple variables with new
Similarly, we can have a pointer to a list of 100 integers:

int * primenumbers = new int[100];

//This offset operation does not mess up the pointer

primenumbers[0]=2;
primenumbers[1]=3;
cout << "First prime is " << primenumbers[0];

21
Manipulation using pointers
You can also manipulate such an array
using pointer syntax.

int * pa = new int[100];

pa[0] and *pa are the same things

What about pa[1]?

It is the same as *(pa+1)

In general, ptr+x means, the xth memory location

(of the type of ptr) in the memory after ptr.

What about pa[500]?

Try and see! Also try other values larger than 99!
22
Pointers for Implementing
Linked Data Structures

23
Linked Lists
Built-in Arrays: - too much or too little memory may be allocated
+ ease of use
- inserting an element into a sorted array may require shifting
all the elements
- deleting an element requires shifting

Vectors : +/- may be resized but inefficient

+ ease of use
- still some space wasted
- inserting an element into a sorted array may require shifting
all the elements (also for deletion)

24
Linked Lists

head

Linked lists: + dynamic memory allocation

+ insertion/deletion is cheap (no shifting)
- more tricky and burdensome to program with
- one extra pointer is needed per element

25
Introduction to linked lists: definition
Consider the following struct definition

struct node //node is a user given name

{
string word;
int num;
node * next; // pointer for the next node
};

node * p = new node;

p ? ? ?

num word next

26
Reminder: structs: as data aggregates
see Tapestry Chp. 7 pp. 330-
If you need to create a data structure in order to combine different attributes of a
concept, you can struct. These attributes are also called as "tied" data. For
example, you can create a struct for a student and store a student's id, grade,
address in this struct. Another example follows:

struct point // a struct for a point in 2D space

{
double x_coord;
double y_coord;
};

point p1, p2;

p1.x_coord = 10.0; //access members using the dot notation

p1.y_coord = 0.0;

Very similar to classes - but no member functions. You should use structs rather than classes
only when you want to use them as data aggregates, without any member function (you may
have a constructor though, see the next slide).
Well, it is possible to have member functions for structs, but we will not use structs like that.
27
 Structs with constructors
If you define one or more constructors:
struct point Instead of:
{
double x;
double y; point curve[100];

//default constructor curve[0].x = 0;

point () curve[0].y = 0;
{
curve[1].x = 7;
x = 0;
y = 0; curve[1].y = 12;
} ...

//constructor With the help of constructors,

point (int x_coord, int y_coord) You can use:
: x (x_coord),
y (y_coord) point curve[100];
{ //nothing more to initialize // all values are 0
}
}; curve[1] = point (7, 12);

General Remarks:
If no constructor is used, it is OK.
If you want to have a constructor with parameter, also write a default constructor.
If there is constructor, creating a struct (dynamic or normal) variable automatically 28
calls default constructor (e.g. curve has 100 elements, all are (0,0) when created)
Introduction to linked lists: inserting a node
Without a constructor: With a constructor:

node *p; node * p;

p = new node; p=new node(5,"Ali",NULL);
p->num = 5;
p->word = "Ali";
p->next = NULL

5 Ali
p
num word next
29
Updated node struct with constructor
In order to use the struct as in the previous slide, we need to add a
constructor to it:

struct node //node is a user given name

{
int num;
string word;
node *next; // pointer for the next node

//default constructor; actually does not initialize

//anything but should exist
node()
{
}

//constructor with 3 parameters

node(int n, string w, node * p)
: num(n),word(w),next(p)
{};
}; 30
Introduction to linked lists: adding a new node

How can you add another node that is pointed by p->link?

node *p;
p = new node(5,"Ali",NULL);

node *q;

q
?
5 Ali
p
num word next
31
Introduction to linked lists
node *p;
p = new node;
p = new node(5,"Ali",NULL);

node *q;
q = new node;

5 Ali ? ? ? ?
p
num word next num word next
32
Introduction to linked lists
node *p, *q;
p = new node;
p = new node(5,"Ali",NULL);

q = new node;
q->num=8; //I can access fields one by one
q->word = "Veli";
q->next = NULL;
q

5 Ali ? 8 Veli
p
num word next num word next
33
Introduction to linked lists
node *p, *q;
p = new node;
p = new node(5,"Ali",NULL);

q = new node(8,"Veli",NULL);
//or I can use constructor

p->next = q;

5 Ali ? 8 Veli
p
num word next num word next
34
Linked Lists: Typical Functions

head

Printing an existing list pointed by head:

struct node {   
int info;    ptr = head;
node *next; while (ptr != NULL)
{
. . . //constructors
}; cout << ptr ->info << endl;
ptr = ptr->next;
node *head, *ptr; }
//list is filled here...
//head points to first node End of a linked list
should point to NULL

You do not want to lose head, because otherwise

you cannot reach the list later 35
Linked Lists: Typical Functions

head

Adding a node to the end of the list: tail

void Add2End(node * tail, int id)

{
node *nn = new node(id, NULL);
tail->next = nn;

//This added the new id to the end of the list,

//but now tail also needs updating – how?
//we could return the new tail from the function: node * Add2End(node * tail, int id)
//and let the caller do the update
//or we could make tail a reference parameter and update it here…
//but we left it as it is right now
}
36
Linked Lists: building
//TASK: Put contents of storage into a linked list,
struct node
{   
int info;   
node *next;
};

int storage[] = {1,2,3,4};

node *head = NULL; What happens as a result of this
node *temp = NULL; code’s execution? Let's trace on the board

for (int k=0; k < 4; k++)

{
temp = new node();
temp->info = storage[k];
temp->next = head;
head = temp;
}
37
Linked Lists: building
The codes in the last 3 slides are
struct node {    in ptrfunc.cpp, but this file also
int info;    contains some features that we
node *next; have not seen as of now. Please
node () {} do not get confused.
node (const int & s, node * link)
: info(s), next (link)
{}
}; You better use a constructor to
insert data more compactly and in a
int storage[] = {1,2,3,4}; less error-prone fashion – like this.
node *head = NULL, *temp = NULL;
for (int k=0; k < 4; k++)
{
temp = new node (storage[k], head);
temp = new node();
temp->info = storage[k];
temp->next = head;
head = temp;
38
}
Stack and Heap
Scope and Lifetime
Extern and Static Variables
Freeing Memory Allocated by New

39
Static vs. Dynamic Memory Allocation
Automatic (ordinary) variables: Normal declaration of variables within a function (including
main): e.g. ints, chars that you define by “int n;” , “char c;” etc..

– C++ allocates memory on the stack (a pool of memory cells) for automatic
variables when a function begins, releases the space when the function completes
(automatically).

– The lifetime of an automatic variable is defined by its scope (the compound block
in which the variable is defined). After the block finishes, the variable’s location is
returned to memory.
• A block is defined as any code fragment enclosed in an left curly brace, {, and
a right curly brace, }.

Dynamic variables: Allocated by the new operator, on the heap (a storage pool of
available memory cells for dynamic allocation). E.g. p = new int[100];

– new returns the address of the first element allocated (this is generally assigned to
a pointer variable)
– System will return NULL if there is no more space in heap to be allocated.
– Programmer should use delete to release space when it is no longer needed. 
• If you do not do so, you cause so-called "memory leak"; This is one of
deadly sins of programming.
– The lifetime of a dynamic variable is until they are explicitly deleted
40
Local Variables vs Global Variables
• A block is any code fragment enclosed in an left curly brace, {,
and a right curly brace, }.

• Variables are categorized as either local or global solely based

on there they are declared: inside a block or outside of all
blocks.
– Local variables are declared in a block.
– Global variables are declared outside of all blocks.
• The scope of a local variable is the block in which the variable
is declared.
• A global variable is NOT limited in scope. This type of variable
is visible to every module in the project.
– A commonly complained shortcoming of C++ is the exposure created by
using global variables.
– This situation is usually avoided by prohibiting the use of global
variables and instead passing information between modules in the form
of function/method parameters. 41
Extern variables
• We said that a global variable is visible to every module in the
project
– But this is not automatic; you cannot simply use a global variable defined
in say student.cpp in another cpp (say courses.cpp) of the same project
• There is a mechanism to reach a global variable declared in
another cpp file; using extern variable.
• The actual definition of the global variable remains as is
– This is where the memory is allocated for that variable
• In the cpp file that you will reach the global variable defined
outside of this cpp:
– You have to redefine the same global variable with preceeding extern
keyword.
– In this way, you do not allocate a new memory location, but inform the
compiler that the actual definition of the variable is outside of that cpp
file.
• See externdemo1.cpp and externdemo2.cpp
42
Static variables
Static Local Variables
• A variant of the 'normal' local variable is the static local. When the
keyword static preceeds to the variable declaration, the lifetime
of the variable becomes the entire execution of the program.
– To preserve the value of the variable even when it goes out of scope.
– When program execution reenters the block in which the variable is
declared, the variable has the value it had when execution last left that
block.

Static Global Variables

• A variant of the 'normal' global variable is the static global. Static
global variables are visible to all methods/functions in the module
(i.e. .cpp or .h file or the files that include it) where the variable is
declared, but not visible to any other modules in the project. This
strategy greatly reduces the opportunities for logic errors in larger
programs. By doing this, sharing information within a module is still
possible. As long as modules are kept small and manageable, this
strategy is useful.
43
Heap/Stack: usage overview
Stack (also called as runtime stack)
• All automatic (ordinary) variables use a special part of memory called the runtime
stack
• The stack is useful for storing context during function calls, which is performed
automatically and transparent to the programmer. 
– When a function, say dothis, is called in another function, say dothat, the function
dothat simply pushes all its local variables (its context) onto the stack before passing
the control to dothis. When the function dothis is completed, control returns to dothat
but beforehand, dothat pops the context off the stack.

 
Heap
• The heap is basically rest of memory that the program has.  In that sense, it is
often the largest segment in a program.   
• Dynamic variables are allocated on the heap and memory allocated for them
stays until explicitly freed (deleted).

• The memory area used for static and global variable allocation is basically part of
heap, but mostly the area used for dynamically allocated variables is separated
from static/global See stackheapaddress.cpp
– This is compiler dependant 44
Heap/Stack

Where are pointer variables stored, stack or heap?

Pointer variables (themselves), just like the normal built-in

variables and objects (int, double, string, vector, etc.) also
use up memory, but not from the heap
– they use the run-time stack

45
Pointers: Delete
The statement to de-allocate a memory location and return to
the heap is:
delete PointerVariable;
– the memory location pointed by PointerVariable is now returned
back to the heap;
– this area now may be reallocated with a new statement

– Careful: PointerVariable still points to the same location, but that

location is no longer in use. This may cause confusion, each
compiler may behave differently when you try to reach the content
a deleted memory location (even debug and release versions may
act differently).
– So it is a good idea to reset the pointer to NULL (zero) after
deleting.
e.g. delete p;
p = NULL;
46
Freeing allocated memory with delete
Date *p1 = new Date(); p1
08/03/2021
Date *p2 = p1; p2

...

delete p1; //We need to delete memory allocated with new

delete p2;
//Deleting (freeing) previously freed memory possibly
//causes a crash or a corrupt program depending on
the
// compiler and platform
47
Pointers to variables on the stack

Can we have a pointer to point a variable that is not

dynamically allocated?
- using the & (address of) operator
- such variables are not allocated from heap!
• that is why their addresses are not close to dynamically
allocated variables

int num;
int *ptr;
num=5;
ptr = &num; //ptr contains the address of num;
cout << *ptr << endl;

What is output?
48
Question
int n;
int * p_temp = &n;

Do we need to delete p_temp?

No. It points to a stack variable.

What happens if we delete?

Most likely a crash or corrupt program, depending on the
compiler.

49
Memory allocation with the new operator
Points to be careful for
Warning message: address of local variable returned
What is the problem here?

Dice * MakeDie(int n)
//return pointer to n sided object
{
Dice nSided(n);
return &nSided;
}

Dice * cube = MakeDie (4);

Dice * tetra = MakeDie (6);
cout << cube->NumSides();
50
Memory allocation with the new operator
What is the problem?
Returning a pointer to a variable on the
stack (with the & operator),
is wrong!
Dice * MakeDie(int n)
//return pointer to n sided object
{ no longer exists
Dice nSided(n); nsided after the
function returns
return &nSided;
}

Dice * cube = MakeDie (4); cube

Dice * tetra = MakeDie (6);
cout << cube->NumSides();
51
Memory allocation with the new operator

Solution:
Dice * MakeDie(int n)
//return pointer to n sided object
{
Dice * dice_ptr = new Dice (n); dice_ptr
return dice_ptr;
}
Dice * cube = MakeDie (4); cube
Dice * tetra = MakeDie (6);
cout << cube->NumSides();
//Is there any problem left?
52