Pointers and Dynamic Access
Explore the concept of pointers in C++ to dynamically access and manipulate memory addresses. Learn how to use pointer arithmetic to navigate arrays, enabling more efficient data handling. This lesson guides you through building a Pointer Navigation Tracker project to practice accessing variable addresses, moving pointers through arrays, and understanding low-level memory control.
The project
You’ve been storing and printing data—like numbers or strings—using simple variables. But what if you want to directly access or manipulate memory? In C++, every variable is stored somewhere in memory, each with its own unique address.
If you could hold that address, move through a sequence of items, and even update them, you’d unlock the true power of low-level control.
For example, imagine a small memory block storing your weekly calorie data or step counts. Wouldn’t it be great if you could move a cursor through that data, forward or backward, to view or modify it dynamically?
Typing this:
Day 1 steps: 3000Day 2 steps: 4500Day 3 steps: 5000
It's helpful, but it’s still static.
What you need is a way to point to values in memory, move across them, and interact with them—like a dynamic ...