Every time you declare a variable, the compiler puts it somewhere, which you can now refer to as an address. Once you know that address, you can use it.Like a reference, when you pass an argument to a function, the argument is passed using its address. This allows the calling function to dig into the address of the variable (the argument) and use the value directly. This transaction, like that of passing an argument by reference, allows the calling function to alter the real value of the argument. Using this ability, a pointer can allow you to return many values from a function; as opposed to a regular argument passing where the data, although changed inside of the calling function, will regain its previous value once the calling function is exited. Therefore, passing arguments as pointers allows a function to return many values, even if a function is declared as void.When you declare an array, you must specify the dimension of the array. That's already a problem: what if you don't know and don't want to know the dimension of the array? Pointers provide an ability that regular arrays do not have. Since pointers have a different and better system of managing memory, a pointer can store an array of almost any size; this is tremendous when dealing with arrays of characters or a whole text. Using this feature, when declaring a pointer in replacement of an array, you do not have to worry about the size of the array, the compiler will take care of that. Again, this feature allows you to pass pointers to a function (just like arrays) and return a value that has been altered even if the function is declared as void. This is even more dynamic with multidimensional arrays.
C++
Topic: Pointers
Why Use Pointers?
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