constructor with pointer or not?

[jonnyboy12]

Hello, i have been coding for quite a while now. Up until now i have not figured out weather or not to do this.

somthing * newsomthing; 

newsomthing->funtion();

or this

somthing newsomthing;
newsomthing.function();

I know what a pointer is , but often i dont know weather or not to use one or not. I feel that this will turn into a problem one day if now resolved, can anyone tell me the difference? thanks.

[Narue]

Well, since your first example is an prime example if dereferencing an uninitialized pointer, I'm tempted to suggest that you learn more about pointers. But I actually have a better answer to your immediate problem of not knowing when to use a pointer: don't use pointers.

If you refrain from using pointers initially, the situations where you need them will become readily apparent. And from there you can build a base of experience of where you needed them before.

[mrnutty]

Hello, i have been coding for quite a while now. Up until now i have not figured out weather or not to do this.

somthing * newsomthing; 

newsomthing->funtion();

or this

somthing newsomthing;
newsomthing.function();

I know what a pointer is , but often i dont know weather or not to use one or not. I feel that this will turn into a problem one day if now resolved, can anyone tell me the difference? thanks.

Keep it simple. If you don't need to use pointers, that is you can use regular non-pointer type, then use them. That's all there is to it. If for some reason you do need pointers, (ex linked list?) then use them.