NULL Pointer | C Programming Tutorial

An explanation of the NULL pointer value in C, including common use cases of the NULL pointer value. Source code: github.com/portfoliocourses/c.... Check out www.portfoliocourses.com to build a portfolio that will impress employers!

Пікірлер: 26

  • @grimvian
    @grimvian Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for clearing the understanding of NULL pointers. I learned a lot, despite I have worked with pointers for some time. I am wondering about your use the command line is for educational purposes... I was positively surprised that you also covered a bit of using struct/nodes. A suggestion for pedagogical reasons at least for me and maybe others: If the struct and the related code can be seen, without scrolling, will make your explanation easier to understand. English is my second language, but I dare to suggest to rephrase the title to: "The versatile use of NULL pointers".

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the suggestions. :-) I put the struct up at the top of the file to keep it global as is more normal. I try to keep the titles shorter because I've found the video performs better that way, and I try to put more details into the description (like in this case I referenced use cases in the description).

  • @grimvian

    @grimvian

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PortfolioCourses Thanks - I have only heard one other instructor who pronouce char as car - no issue :o) This is of course an educational situation. Is the tendency to have functions not bigger than a screen size and not wider 80 characters to have the code as clear and understandable as possible or?

  • @heitorheitorheitor8158
    @heitorheitorheitor8158 Жыл бұрын

    man I love your videos they helped me so much 😊

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    That's awesome that these videos are helping you! :-)

  • @ramakrishna4092
    @ramakrishna4092 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you Rama! :-)

  • @ramakrishna4092
    @ramakrishna4092 Жыл бұрын

    Hi sir I have a doubt here when you free the pointer the memory before and after is same I noticed can you pls tell me why .... I have seen this video two times but I have problem with my understanding. Can you pls help me with that .

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    It's the same before and after calling free() because free() doesn't modify the memory address that the pointer stores. The function just doesn't do that. All free() does is "make the block of memory that was free'd available again". So when we use malloc() to allocate memory, there is some block of memory that is set aside to be used for our program. Calling free() will make this memory available again, it will no longer be set aside for our program. When we call malloc it returns the memory address for the block of memory that is allocated and we store that into a pointer variable. But free() does not actually modify the value that the pointer variable stores, it ONLY frees the memory AT that memory address. So that's why after calling free() the pointer is the same. And that's why it's a best practice to set a pointer variable to NULL after calling free if we intend to re-use that pointer variable again later, because we are making it clear to the rest of our program that the pointer "points to nothing" which helps prevent us from accidentally using it as if it were pointing to valid memory. :-)

  • @idanmariani8601
    @idanmariani8601 Жыл бұрын

    love everything about your channel i also buy your linked list course super awsome.. :)

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for the kind feedback Idan, and I hope you enjoyed the course! :-)

  • @badrinarayanan
    @badrinarayananАй бұрын

    Thank you very much for these videos!

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Ай бұрын

    WOW - thank you very much!!!!!! :-D

  • @pwnwriter
    @pwnwriter Жыл бұрын

    Awesome vid as always

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    I'm really glad to hear you think they're awesome, thank you! :-)

  • @Mnogojazyk
    @Mnogojazyk Жыл бұрын

    Can one make a substitute for free() so that it would free the pointer and then nullify the pointer? I have in mind something like void lose(void ptr) { free(ptr) ; ptr = NULL ; }

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    That's a great question and yes I think you could do that, but you would want to pass the pointer "by reference" aka "pass by pointer" in order to set the pointer to point to NULL. So something like this maybe... void my_free(int **pointer) { free(*pointer); *pointer = NULL; } .... int *mypointer = malloc(sizeof(int)); free(&mypointer); I'm sure it could be made more general with void but maybe I can make a video on this one day.

  • @Mnogojazyk

    @Mnogojazyk

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PortfolioCourses, I think a generalised procedure and a video would be great. Thanks!

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Mnogojazyk Cool! 🙂

  • @grimvian
    @grimvian Жыл бұрын

    In the video at 6:00, I'm wondering: if (ptr != NULL) { *ptr = 5; printf("*ptr: %d ", *ptr); // should free only be used here, because malloc only allocate , when ptr != NULL or? }

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    You could do it that way, this video is just for demonstration and learning purposes. In general if we can't allocate memory correctly we would probably do something more than just output an error message, we might exit the program for example. In this video we're just exploring the NULL pointer value. 🙂

  • @KasualNoBrainer
    @KasualNoBrainerАй бұрын

    i have to say it... bro is better than bro code

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    26 күн бұрын

    Thank you for the kind feedback. :-)

  • @poisonmods
    @poisonmods Жыл бұрын

    Hummmm

  • @PortfolioCourses

    @PortfolioCourses

    Жыл бұрын

    I hope you enjoyed it! :-)

  • @mohokhachai
    @mohokhachai4 ай бұрын

    Out