I have a bit of trouble with the line:
I understand the part before the ‘=’ and the malloc(sizeof(Person) part but I don’t understand (Person *)
Can someone explain why this is there (and better even, what it means?
The malloc returns an object of type void * large enough to hold an object of type Person.
(Person *) typecasts the object of type void * to Person *.
To understand what the typecast operator (T *) as in (Person *) really does, try this:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
struct Foo
{
long bar;
};
typedef struct Foo Foo;
int main (int argc, const char * argv[])
{
(malloc (sizeof (Foo)))->bar = 7; // Error
((Foo *)malloc (sizeof (Foo)))->bar = 7; // Okay
return 0;
}
Thanks, I already learned about typecasting in an earlier chapter but never saw it with an object so I was a bit confused by the syntax of (Person *) in combination with malloc.
What is typecasting? I on the “heap” chapter…typecasting was never explained in detail. thx
Hi SmallNerdRacher.
I have had trouble getting my head around typecasting too.
Simply put, typecasting is a way to make a variable of one data type behave like another for a single operation. This is done by putting the type of variable you want the actual variable (say an integer) to act like (lets say a double float) inside parentheses in front of the actual variable .[code]// typeCast
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, const char * argv)
{
int sum = 17, count = 5;
double floatCast;
floatCast = (double) sum / count;
printf(“Value of floatCast : %f\n”, floatCast);
return 0;
}
[/code]
And now that you have forced or typecast the integer variable to act like a float you get:[quote]Value of floatCast is: 3.400000.[/quote]
Type casting can also be when an actor plays a role and from which they can never escape from. Like that poor actor R.Lee Ermey who played that Staff Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. But I digress from the focus of this forum.
[color=#004040]JR[/color]