Ok, so in C a pointer just points to a memory location, if whatever is at that locations moves you get into trouble. But with Java, a reference points to an object which has its own memory address that may change and the reference wont be affected?
Also, Weiqi Gao says that Java has no pointers (unless I miss understood you), but Casper says "Yes, Java has pointers", which is it??? On Nov 12, 10:49 am, Casper Bang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > That didn't come out right. lol Java always passes a copy of the > pointer/reference, but does so by value. So if you cross a stack frame > boundary (say call into a method) there will now be two distinct > references to the thing. That's why a swap won't work, you may swap > your second reference but that has no effect on the first once you get > back from the call and pop the old stack frame. Hmm tricky to explain. > > /Casper > > On Nov 12, 12:37 am, Casper Bang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Yes, Java has pointers. But it has no support for pointer arithmetics > > and you cannot implement a swap method. Java always passes a copy > > (reference) to a pointer. > > > /Casper > > > On Nov 12, 12:15 am, Kram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Does Java have pointers? I have been trying to get a definitive answer > > > using Google and half the sites say that Java has Pointers the other > > > half say no. > > > > I have found on the Sun website that Java does not have Pointers. > > > Which really answers my question, but if references can be thought of > > > in similar fasion, what is the difference between the two. > > > > I would like it very much if someone could clearly identify for me the > > > difference between Pointers and References. > > > > And the million dollar question: Why, if Java does not have pointers, > > > can you get a NullPointerException? > > > > Thanks for the help. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
