What is the use of a function pointer?

Function pointers can be useful when you want to create callback mechanism, and need to pass address of a function to another function. They can also be useful when you want to store an array of functions, to call dynamically for example.

What is the main use of function pointer in C?

Function Pointers point to code like normal pointers. In Functions Pointers, function’s name can be used to get function’s address. A function can also be passed as an arguments and can be returned from a function.

What is the use of function pointers in C++?

It is basically used to store the address of a function. We can call the function by using the function pointer, or we can also pass the pointer to another function as a parameter. They are mainly useful for event-driven applications, callbacks, and even for storing the functions in arrays.

What are the advantages of function pointer?

11 Answers

• They offer more flexibility: they’re full-fledged classes, with constructor, destructor and member variables.
• They are faster: unlike function pointers, whose type only encode the signature of the function (a variable of type void (*)(int) may be any function which takes an int and returns void.

How functions help us in everyday life?

Functions are mathematical building blocks for designing machines, predicting natural disasters, curing diseases, understanding world economies and for keeping airplanes in the air. Functions can take input from many variables, but always give the same output, unique to that function.

How do functions work in programming?

Functions are “self contained” modules of code that accomplish a specific task. Functions usually “take in” data, process it, and “return” a result. Once a function is written, it can be used over and over and over again. Functions can be “called” from the inside of other functions.

Why would you pass-by-pointer?

Pass-by-pointer means to pass a pointer argument in the calling function to the corresponding formal parameter of the called function. The called function can modify the value of the variable to which the pointer argument points. Use pass-by-pointer if you want to modify the argument value in the calling function.

What is the scope of a function?

Most objects and functions have names, and each of these names is inside a scope. So the “scope of a function” could mean two things: either the scope defined by the function’s body, in which its local variables are declared; or the scope (either a class or a namespace) in which the function name is declared.