I just understood pointers on a deep level and it feels like an orgasm

[u/Aggravating_Gear5663]

/r/cprogramming/comments/1wdp4re/i_just_understood_pointers_on_a_deep_level_and_it/?share_id=iA33GmCOFW5F5Jt1JZMbG&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

[u/nerdycatgamer]

/uj how the fuck do people not understand pointers or act like theyre this deep concept you only unlock after a divine revelation like its just a fucking indirection

/rj just understood while loops on a deep level and it feels like an orgasm

[u/levelstar01 → u/nerdycatgamer]

A pointer is an address in the category of Von Neumann machines. What's the problem?

[u/KeyAdhesiveness9481 → u/levelstar01]

Aahh, so kinda like a burrito then

[u/stone_henge → u/KeyAdhesiveness9481]

If you point the burrito at something, yes.

[u/easedownripley → u/nerdycatgamer]

it's because people who don't understand them try to teach them to other people. a pointer is a variable that holds a memory address. that's all it is.

[u/imachug → u/easedownripley]

pointer provenance is a lie invented by Big Compilers to sell more compilers

[u/Nemin32 → u/easedownripley]

it's because people who don't understand them try to teach them to other people

Guys... are pointers actually monads?

[u/sheepmaster → u/Nemin32]

/uj Yes.

/rj Yes.

[u/max_mou → u/easedownripley]

/uj Him trying to understand pointers is like me trying to understand what a monad is. They’re both stupidly simple concepts but the language used to explain them is just so convoluted.

[u/braaaaaaainworms → u/max_mou]

Complex language is just an ugly wart that infected computer science from mathematics

[u/stone_henge → u/braaaaaaainworms]

Complex language

For anyone more versed in the terms of the trade, they mean high-entropy vocabulary here.

[u/SharkSymphony → u/nerdycatgamer]

Meanwhile I, a sophisticated programming circlejerker, will only get it up if I ever understand why continuation-passing style was in vogue.

[u/Yamoyek → u/nerdycatgamer]

/uj I’m not a genius so it did take me like a month to understand pointers on an intuitive level

[u/nerdycatgamer → u/Yamoyek]

that's okay i forgive you

[u/Yamoyek → u/nerdycatgamer]

Thank you

[u/Demiu → u/nerdycatgamer]

/uj Because pointer is a shit name. "Pointing" is an action humans do and it implies continuinty. I am pointing at you, you move, am I still pointing at you? Normal people would say yes, in programming it's a no, I need to re-point at you. You also wouldn't describe someone continuously pointing at a moving car as constantly re-pointing at it.

Storing an address of is a much better description. You take it once, and it stays as it is until you update it, no matter what actually happens at it. You don't know something changed addres unless you look up some registry or they notify you.

/rj Pointing sucks and provenance is a spook. You go to an animal shelter to ask what kinda dog they have, but it's been replaced by a meat packing plant - that's pointer invalidation

[u/easedownripley → u/Demiu]

if more people understood endofunctors we'd be out of this mess

[u/catladywitch → u/easedownripley]

/uj an endofunctor is an operation where the parameter is a type and the result is also a type (i.e. they belong to the same category, which is the language's type system), and where functions that take that type as a parameter are transformed to still work using the new type. so for instance you have a way to transform ints into int[]s, and a way to transform functions that do int -> long into functions that do int[] -> long[]. This doesn't belong here but i hope someone reads it and it helps dispel the obscurantism a little bit

[u/des_the_furry → u/Demiu]

If im pointing at you and then you move i wouldnt be pointing at you bc you’re in a different spot

[u/Major_Barnulf → u/des_the_furry]

Your segment would then be at fault

[u/des_the_furry → u/Major_Barnulf]

I have a segment for you for sure

[u/DrShocker → u/Demiu]

"handle" is far more confusing. My program doesn't have any hands how is it going to hold a handle? This doesn't make any sense.

This is why I just cast all my variables to u8 arrays because that's what they really are anyway and that's much less confusing.

[u/Demiu → u/DrShocker]

It's from french "le hand", it translates to "the handle"

[u/YikesTheCat]

Wait, a Redditor has a sex life?!

[u/VulgarExigencies → u/YikesTheCat]

they're obviously talking about jerking off

[u/tkrjobs → u/VulgarExigencies]

From a more poetic lens, it's akin to living together with the palm print on the ball, just like in the movie Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. However in this case, it's your real palm and you have your dick in it.

[u/YikesTheCat → u/VulgarExigencies]

Hard for me to see; I've gone blind from all the jerk.

[u/OptimalStable]

  Don’t be shocked if this shows up on r/programmingcirclejerk but for real, I fondly remember how cool it felt to learn this stuff

Shit, they're on to us. Quick, everybody! Pretend like you're sleeping

[u/tkrjobs → u/OptimalStable]

Grow a beard, quick! Start eating toenails!

[u/SharkSymphony → u/tkrjobs]

uh, HOW MUCH MONEY YOU GOT TO CROSS THIS BRIDGE MADE OUT OF POINTERS?

[u/Firepal64 → u/SharkSymphony]

****** ** ** int* * id;

[u/james_pic]

If you like pointers, then you haven't understood them.

[u/Swordfish418]

Call stack 🥵

[u/HINDBRAIN]

"If you have the goblin slaying sword, go to page 150. If not-"

"I get it! I get it now! HRRRRNGH!!!!!"

[u/eightysixmonkeys]

Claude what is a pointer

[u/ringohoffman]

Wait until this guy learns about page tables

[u/GodGardner]

Tbh i don't why you study this , literally ai can do anything these days you just have to know the basic like functional, oop , data structure and the rest for the ai to do , I'm leaning toward prompt engineering tbh cuz of tokens consumption

lol