what's wrong with this use of new[] ?

[phalaris_trip]

I have this code

CPoint* points;

int numPoints (200);
points = new CPoint[200];

I have another class called CPlanet, and a bunch of pointers like:
CPlanet* pSun = new CPlanet;

... and CPoint and CPlanet call the same functions, so I would like to use -> to call their functions.
pSun->Move() is ok, but for points I have to use points.Move().

The thing is I want to use -> for both the single planets and the array of points.
So I tried this, but I get a break:

CPoint** points;

int numPoints (200);
*points = new CPoint[200];

I'm just not used to double pointers being used as arrays.. can't really figure out what I'm doing wrong though..

I also tried points = new CPoint* [200] but that also gives a break...
so what should I do?

Thanks a lot,

[Lerner]

I think this will work

CPoint** points;

make points a pointer to an array of pointers of type Cpoint*:

points = new CPoint*[200];

each points in points is a pointer to type CPoint so now you can call member functions using the ->

points->Move();

if that's what you really want to do.

[phalaris_trip]

As I said, I tried this and I'm getting breaks..

[Duoas]

You are both mixing between the pointer and the pointee. CPoint foo; is an actual CPoint. It exists. CPoint *foo; is a pointer to a CPoint. So far, no CPoint actually exists. CPoint **foo; is a pointer to a pointer to a CPoint. So far, neither a "pointer to a CPoint" nor any Cpoint exists.

So, Lerner started out right: you need to create the things that exist one step at a time.

CPoint **points;

// Create 200 "pointers to CPoint"
points = new CPoint*[ 200 ];
// (So far, no CPoints exist)

// Create 200 CPoints
for (int i = 0; i < 200; i++)
  points[ i ] = new CPoint;
// (Now you have 200 pointers to 200 CPoints)

points[ 42 ]->Move();  // Move the 43rd planet

I'm still not sure I understand exactly what you are trying to do, or even why you are dinking around with pointers in C++ (just use a vector or a deque or a list), but I...

Hope this helps.

[phalaris_trip]

Thanks a million :)

I am dinking around with pointers because C++ is a hobby and I like to learn about these things.. deques are just too easy aren't they?

[Duoas]

Heh heh, yeah.

Nowadays people like to call pointers "references" and pretend they're all beautiful. Same bully thing.

I think it is a really good idea to have a clear understanding of what pointers are and how they work, because you will always need them at some point. (Well, unless you're playing with an interpreted language like Tcl, or a functional language like Scheme...) And because they are pretty basic to understanding how a computer actually works...

:)