CRASH COURSE: C POINTERS

stringExamples.c

// Declaring a new string
char string1[] = "This is a string";

// Declaring an uninitialized array with specified size
char string2[8];

// Declaring an uninitialized array with undefined size
// (SmallerC does not implement this!!)
char string3[];

/*
    Reading from an array using pointers...
*/

// Let's call a function to get the third character in string1
// the & before string1 means "get the location of string1 in memory, AKA the pointer to string1"
char c = readFromArray(&string1, 3);

// =====================

char readFromArray(char* strArray, unsigned char index) {
    // 'char* strArray' means that strArray is a pointer to a data structure made up of chars
    
    char c;
    
    // the * means to "dereference" the pointer, or to get the actual value in memory that the pointer...uh...points to
    // here, we're taking the memory address of wherever our string array is, and adding the index to it, so, in effect...
    // ...it's the same as writing string1[index] !!
    c = *(strArray + index);
    
    return c;
}