C++ Primer Plus

Functions Using Array Ranges

As you’ve seen, C++ functions that process arrays need to be informed about the kind of data in the array, the location of the beginning of the array, and the number of elements in the array. The traditional C/C++ approach to functions that process arrays is to pass a pointer to the start of the array as one argument and to pass the size of the array as a second argument. (The pointer tells the function both where to find the array and the kind of data in it.) That gives the function the information it needs to find all the data.

There is another approach to giving a function the information it needs: specify a range of elements. This can be done by passing two pointers—one identifying the start of the array and one ...