Lecture

Pointers in C++: Event-Driven Programming with GTKmm

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Description

This lecture introduces the concept of function pointers in C++, emphasizing their role in event-driven programming for graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It begins with a recap of pointers, explaining how they store memory addresses and how they can be utilized to pass functions as parameters. The instructor details the declaration and initialization of function pointers, providing examples to illustrate their usage. The lecture also covers the importance of matching function prototypes when passing functions as parameters. Furthermore, it discusses the application of function pointers in GTKmm, a library for creating graphical interfaces, demonstrating how to associate functions with GUI events, such as button clicks. By the end of the lecture, students will have a clear understanding of how to effectively use function pointers in their programming, particularly in the context of GUI development with GTKmm.

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Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Theoretical computer science

Programming language theory: High-level programming languages

Related concepts (32)

Function pointer

A function pointer, also called a subroutine pointer or procedure pointer, is a pointer referencing executable code, rather than data. Dereferencing the function pointer yields the referenced function, which can be invoked and passed arguments just as in a normal function call. Such an invocation is also known as an "indirect" call, because the function is being invoked indirectly through a variable instead of directly through a fixed identifier or address. Function pointers allow different code to be executed at runtime.

Object-oriented programming

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or properties), and the code is in the form of procedures (often known as methods). A common feature of objects is that procedures (or methods) are attached to them and can access and modify the object's data fields. In this brand of OOP, there is usually a special name such as or used to refer to the current object.

Pointer (computer programming)

In computer science, a pointer is an object in many programming languages that stores a memory address. This can be that of another value located in computer memory, or in some cases, that of memory-mapped computer hardware. A pointer references a location in memory, and obtaining the value stored at that location is known as dereferencing the pointer. As an analogy, a page number in a book's index could be considered a pointer to the corresponding page; dereferencing such a pointer would be done by flipping to the page with the given page number and reading the text found on that page.

Smart pointer

In computer science, a smart pointer is an abstract data type that simulates a pointer while providing added features, such as automatic memory management or bounds checking. Such features are intended to reduce bugs caused by the misuse of pointers, while retaining efficiency. Smart pointers typically keep track of the memory they point to, and may also be used to manage other resources, such as network connections and file handles.

Functional programming

In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm where programs are constructed by applying and composing functions. It is a declarative programming paradigm in which function definitions are trees of expressions that map values to other values, rather than a sequence of imperative statements which update the running state of the program. In functional programming, functions are treated as first-class citizens, meaning that they can be bound to names (including local identifiers), passed as arguments, and returned from other functions, just as any other data type can.

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