Programming Tutorials

Converting Pointers that Operate on Arrays in C++ to Java

By: Charles in C++ Tutorials on 2007-09-15  

Conceptually, converting C++-style pointer-based array accessing into the equivalent Java-compatible array indexing is straightforward-simply substitute the appropriate array-indexing statements. However, in practice this may require some thought. Pointer-based array accessing can be a bit difficult to follow, because the normal C++ coding style encourages rather dense, complex expressions. For example, this short C++ program copies the contents of one array to another. It uses 0 to mark the end of the arrays. Pay special attention to the pointer expressions. Even in this simple example, if you did not know that this program copied the contents of nums to copy (and later displayed the arrays), it would require some careful thought before you were completely sure that you knew what the code was doing.

// Copy an array in C++ using pointers.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    int nums[] = {10, 12, 24, 45, 23, 19, 44,
                  88, 99, 65, 76, 12, 89, 0};
    int copy[20];
    int *p1, *p2; // integer pointers
    // copy array
    p1 = nums; // p1 points to start of nums array
    p2 = copy;

    while (*p1)
        *p2++ = *p1++;
    *p2 = 0; // terminate copy with zero
    // Display contents of each array.
    cout << "Here is the original array:\\n";
    p1 = nums;
    while (*p1)
        cout << *p1++ << " ";
    cout << endl;
    cout << "Here is the copy:\\n";
    p1 = copy;
    while (*p1)
        cout << *p1++ << " ";
    cout << endl;
    return 0;
}

Even though it is quite simple for C++ code, at first glance the line

while(*p1) *p2++ = *p1++;

still requires a moment of thought to decipher its exact operation. One of the advantages of Java is that it does not encourage the creation of such expressions in the first place. Here is the Java version of the program. As you can see, its purpose and effects are transparent.

// Array copy without pointers using Java.

class CopyArray {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int nums[] = { 10, 12, 24, 45, 23, 19, 44,
                88, 99, 65, 76, 12, 89, 0 };
        int copy[] = new int[14];
        int i;

        // copy array
        for (i = 0; nums[i] != 0; i++)
            copy[i] = nums[i];
        nums[i] = 0; // terminate copy with zero

        // Display contents of each array.
        System.out.println("Here is the original array:");
        for (i = 0; nums[i] != 0; i++)
            System.out.print(nums[i] + " ");
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("Here is the copy:");
        for (i = 0; nums[i] != 0; i++)
            System.out.print(copy[i] + " ");
        System.out.println();
    }
}

Both versions of the program produce the following results:

Here is the original array:
10 12 24 45 23 19 44 88 99 65 76 12 89
Here is the copy:
10 12 24 45 23 19 44 88 99 65 76 12 89

Much C++ code is sprinkled with obscure, difficult to understand pointer expressions. While these expressions do tend to increase speed of execution, they are one of the most troubling issues confronting the maintenance of C++ programs. They will also present difficulty when you convert the code to Java. When you are confronted with a complex pointer expression, it is sometimes useful to begin by breaking it into its subexpressions so that its exact operation becomes clear.