Ivor Horton's Beginning Visual C++® 2005

Chapter 6. More about Program Structure

In the previous chapter, you learned about the basics of defining functions and the various ways in which data can be passed to a function. You also saw how results are returned to a calling program.

In this chapter, we will explore the further aspects of how functions can be put to good use, including:

• What a pointer to a function is

• How to define and use pointers to functions

• How to define and use arrays of pointers to functions

• What an exception is and how to write exception handlers that deal with them.

• How to write multiple functions with a single name to handle different kinds of data automatically

• What function templates are and how you define and use them

• How to write a substantial native C++ program example using several functions

• What generic functions are in C++/CLI

• How to write a substantial C++/CLI program example using several functions

Pointers to Functions

A pointer stores an address value that, up to now, has been the address of another variable with the same basic type as the pointer. This has provided considerable flexibility in allowing you to use different variables at different times through a single pointer. A pointer can also point to the address of a function. This enables you to call a function through a pointer, which will be the function at the address that was last assigned to the pointer.

Obviously, a pointer to a function must contain the memory address of the function that you want to call. To work properly, however, the ...