The
this Pointer: When a function of a class is called by an
object of that class, each variable gets an pointer which points to that
calling object, meaning that this variable was called by that object or this
variable is under that object. This pointer is called this pointer. To clarify
consider the following lines of codes,
int pointer::example(int i, int j){ a=i; //line 1 b=j; //line 2 if (a>b) return a; //line 3 else return b; //line 4 } void main(){ pointer ob1; cout<<ob1.example(15,12); }
Actually each variable
of line 1,2,3,4 is having pointer to the object ob1. This was not shown above.
The actual form of lines 1,2,3,4 will be then as follows,
this->a=i; //line 1 this->b=j; //line 2 return this->a; //line 3 return this->b; //line 4
The this pointer is
important when operators are overloaded and whenever a member function must
utilize a pointer to the object that invoked it.