exercises/exercises/054_manypointers.zig
2021-03-31 03:53:15 +02:00

55 lines
2.4 KiB
Zig

//
// You can also make pointers to multiple items without using a slice.
//
// var foo: [4]u8 = [4]u8{ 1, 2, 3, 4 };
// var foo_slice: []u8 = foo[0..];
// var foo_ptr: [*]u8 = &foo;
//
// The difference between foo_slice and foo_ptr is that the slice has
// a known length. The pointer doesn't. It is up to YOU to keep track
// of the number of u8s foo_ptr points to!
//
const std = @import("std");
pub fn main() void {
// Take a good look at the array type to which we're coercing
// the zen12 string (the REAL nature of strings will be
// revealed when we've learned some additional features):
const zen12: *const [21]u8 = "Memory is a resource.";
//
// It would also have been valid to coerce to a slice:
// const zen12: []const u8 = "...";
//
// Now let's turn this into a "many-item pointer":
const zen_manyptr: [*]const u8 = zen12;
// It's okay to access zen_manyptr just like an array or slice as
// long as you keep track of the length yourself!
//
// A "string" in Zig is a pointer to an array of const u8 values
// (or a slice of const u8 values, as we saw above). So, we could
// treat a "many-item pointer" of const u8 as a string as long as
// we can CONVERT IT TO A SLICE. (Hint: we do know the length!)
//
// Please fix this line so the print statement below can print it:
const zen12_string: []const u8 = zen_manyptr;
// Here's the moment of truth!
std.debug.print("{s}\n", .{zen12_string});
}
//
// Are all of these pointer types starting to get confusing?
//
// FREE ZIG POINTER CHEATSHEET! (Using u8 as the example type.)
// +---------------+----------------------------------------------+
// | u8 | one u8 |
// | *u8 | pointer to one u8 |
// | [2]u8 | two u8s |
// | [*]u8 | pointer to unknown number of u8s |
// | [2]const u8 | two immutable u8s |
// | [*]const u8 | pointer to unknown number of immutable u8s |
// | *[2]u8 | pointer to an array of 2 u8s |
// | *const [2]u8 | pointer to an immutable array of 2 u8s |
// | []u8 | slice of u8s |
// | []const u8 | slice of immutable u8s |
// +---------------+----------------------------------------------+