Advanced C Programming: Pointers
What you'll learn
- Pointers and addresses
- Indirection and multiple indirection
- Generic pointers and casts
- Memory allocation and reallocation
- Pointer arithmetic
- Singly and doubly linked lists
- Queues and stacks
- Deep and shallow copying
- Common pointer errors
Course content
- Preview02:44
- Preview03:14
- 00:27Course Notes and FAQ
- 00:28Source Code Archive
- 03:38What is a pointer?
- 03:11Pointer variables
- 01:51Indirection
- 4 questionsPointer Basics
- 00:09Study Notes – Step One
Requirements
- You should understand at least the basics of C programming
Description
To be an expert C programmer you need to master the use of pointers. This course explains pointers in real depth. It explains pointer variables, pointer arithmetic, indirection, memory allocation, how to create and maintain linked lists and how to use function pointers. In fact, by the time you finish this course, you will know pointers inside out. You will understand what they are, how they work and how to make sure that they don’t make your programs crash!
This is not a course for beginners. It is aimed at programmers who already have a good working knowledge of C programming and who need to take the next step in mastering C by gaining a deep understanding of pointers.
If you’ve struggled with pointers and can’t quite figure out what all those ‘arrow diagrams’ really mean or what exactly is the relationship between pointers and addresses, this is the course for you. In a series of short, tightly-targeted lessons, you will learn all about:
- computer memory and how pointers access it
- how memory is allocated
- why copying data using pointers can cause program errors
- why some pointers are ‘generic’
- what happens when you ‘cast’ pointers to specific types
- how to create singly and doubly linked lists
- how to use stacks and queues
- how to avoid memory leaks and other common problems
- ...and much more.
The source code for all the example programs is provided, so if you need to try out my code you can load it and run it in your preferred C IDE or code editor.
Who this course is for:
- Any C programmer who needs to understand pointers in depth
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Instructor
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 9,186 Reviews
- 78,722 Students
- 16 Courses
Huw Collingbourne is the technology director at SapphireSteel Software, developers of programming tools for Microsoft Visual Studio. He is author of The Little Book Of C, The Little Book Of Pointers and The Little Book Of Recursion from Bitwise Books and of The Book Of Ruby from No Starch Press. He runs Bitwise Courses and teaches courses on a range of programming topics.
Huw has been a programmer for more than 30 years. He is a well-known technology writer in the UK. For over ten years he wrote the Delphi and Java programming column for PC Plus Magazine. He has also written numerous opinion and programming columns (including tutorials on C#, C++, Smalltalk and Ruby) for a number of computer magazines, such as Computer Shopper, PC Pro, and PC Plus.
In the 1980s he was a pop music journalist and interviewed most of the New Romantic stars, such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, Boy George, and Depeche Mode. He is now writing a series of 1980s murder mysteries.
At various times Huw has been a magazine publisher, editor, and TV broadcaster. He has an MA in English from the University of Cambridge and holds a 2nd dan black belt in aikido, a martial art which he teaches in North Devon, UK. The aikido comes in useful when trying (usually unsuccessfully) to keep his Pyrenean Mountain Dogs under some semblance of control.