Address operator and pointers, Operating System

Assignment Help:

  We are use to using variables within C without thinking about where they are stored. Most variables are dynamic i.e. can change, therefore they are stored in Ram, unlike a program once developed is static i.e. doesn't change; this is often storage in EPROM or Rom. We can directly access the address where the variable is stored by means of the address operator '&' .This returns the address of the variable followed i.e.

printf("The address of var A is %lx and the contents of var A is %x",&a,a) 
 
This address is often fixed by the compiler and cannot be altered easily, very often we want initialize the address of a variable and vary it, C uses the concept of the pointer to handle this. A pointer is a variable which holds an address (This is in fact an address register on the 68Hc11 i.e. X, Y). We can explicitly load up the variable with any number (address which we like) and perform simple mathematical functions on it i.e. add, mul, sub etc. In order to declare the variable as a pointer we need to prefix it with a * in its declarations i.e.

      int *point;  
      char *point; 
      float *point;

The type of pointer  used describes the size of the data to be read  i.e. a char pointer reads 7 bits of data , unsigned char 8 bits i.e. (some programmers use sizeof function to get actual machine size).

    char * point  == 7 bits
     unsigned char * point  == 8 bits
     int * point  == 15 bits
     unsigned int  * point  == 16 bits
     float * point  == 31 bits
     unsigned float  * point  == 32 bits


Related Discussions:- Address operator and pointers

What are the various available scheme in ipc, Several schemes available are...

Several schemes available are as follows: Pipes : One-way communication process through which different process can interact. The problem is that the two processes could have

Explain deadlock avoidance, Deadlock Avoidance It's a method to evade ...

Deadlock Avoidance It's a method to evade deadlock by careful resource scheduling. This approach to the deadlock problem foresees deadlock before it actually occurs. This a

What is turnaround time, What is turnaround time? Turnaround time is th...

What is turnaround time? Turnaround time is the interval from the time of submission to the time of completion of a process. It is the sum of the periods exhausted waiting to g

What are the advantages of using unequal- size partitions, In fixed portion...

In fixed portioning scheme, what are the advantages of using unequal- size partitions? With unequal-size partitions there are two probable ways to assign process to partitions.

Explain process scheduling, Explain Process scheduling Process scheduli...

Explain Process scheduling Process scheduling consists of the subsequent sub-functions: 1.      Scheduling : Selects the process to be implement next on the CPU 2.      D

Write about critical regions and monitors, Write about critical regions and...

Write about critical regions and monitors. Critical region definition Monitor definition Implementation of the conditional-region construct Syntax of monitor Monito

What is the main function of the memory-management unit, What is the main f...

What is the main function of the memory-management unit? The runtime mapping from virtual to physical addresses is done by a hardware device known as a memory management unit (

Explain worst fit algorithm, Worst Fit Algorithm Here we obtain the la...

Worst Fit Algorithm Here we obtain the largest space available for the smallest. Therefore after that process entered there will be much more space remaining. In this space we

What is the benefits os co-operating process, What is the benefits OS co-op...

What is the benefits OS co-operating process? Information sharing. Computation speeds up. Modularity. Convenience.

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd