return an address of a double

Question

i'm having an issue understanding why the following works:

void doubleAddr(double* source, double** dest)
{
     *dest = source;
}

i get a pointer to a double and want to change the double that dest points to:

//usage:
int main()
{
     double* num;
     double* dest;

     doubleAddr(num, &dest);
     return 0;
}

thanks in advance

Answer 1

You're not using pointers correctly. To begin with, you're not initializing anything in main(), so that's pretty dangerous. Your code for doubleAddr() is correct, but it's copying a pointer, not a double. If you're trying to copy a number through a pointer, you want something like:

void copyDouble(double source, double *dest)
{
    *dest = source;
}

int main()
{
    double num = 5.6;
    double dest;

    copyDouble(num, &dest);

    printf("%f\n", dest);
    return 0;
}

You can add more * or & if you're trying to do something different.

Answer 2

In your function, source is a pointer to a double. dest is a pointer to a pointer to a double.

*dest = source

dereferences dest once (making it a pointer to a double) and sets it to source.

In main(), dest is a pointer to a double, and you take the address of that when calling doubleAddr, making it a pointer to a pointer to a double.

Answer 3

The function works because you are not actually accessing the memory that it being pointed at. You are simply assigning the destination pointer variable to point at the same memory address as the source pointer variable, nothing more. Since your 'num' variable does not actually point at a valid double value in memory, your code will have bad behavior if you try to dereference the pointer afterwards, since it is pointing at random memory. In other words:

int main() 
{ 
     double* num; // <- uninitialized, points at random memory
     double* dest; 

     doubleAddr(num, &dest); 
     // 'dest' now points to the same address that 'num' points to

     *dest = 12345.0; // BAD!!!!

     return 0; 
} 

The correct way to make the code work is as follows:

int main() 
{ 
     double num; // <- physical value in memory
     double* dest; 

     doubleAddr(&num, &dest); 
     // 'dest' now points at 'num'

     *dest = 12345.0; // OK! 'num' is updated correctly    

     return 0; 
} 

Answer 4

In the first function, source is a pointer to double, and dest is a pointer to a pointer to double, which is just so it can be modified by the function.

The assignment

  *dest = source; 

modifies the callers copy of dest.

And, yeah, main calls it with uninitialized data. Garbage in, garbage out.

Answer 5

Lets take it a step at a time:

• doubleAddr works because double** dest is a pointer-to-a-pointer. This is not really the best way to do it, but is a good learning exercise.

• You are passing in the address of dest with &dest, which is then dereferenced back to a "double" pointer when you say *dest.

• Since source is also a "double" pointer, *dest = source just works.

By the way, your program is incomplete. If you want to test it you need to modify it, for example:

int main()
{
 double* num;
 double* dest;
 double test;
 num = &test;

 doubleAddr(num, &dest);
 printf("%lf\n", *dest);
 return 0;
}