-=> Quoting Jasen Betts to Tony Master <=-

 JB> {at}MSGID: 3:640/1042 314aecfc
 JB> Hi Tony.

 JB> 13-Jan-04 00:25:42, Tony Master wrote to Scott Adams
 
 
 TM> Quoting message from Scott Adams to Tony Master
 SA>> What level of knowledge do you know about them now? I ask so not
 SA>> to go WAY basic on you :)
 
 TM> i know they point to a spot in memory

 JB> The trick is getting them to point to a convenient spot.

 JB> there's a number of ways to do that


 JB> NIL is a special pointer constant that is used wehn you want a
 JB> pointer to point nowhere

 JB> {at} can be used to point one at an existing variable

 JB> new can be used to create an anonymous variable and point a pointer
 JB> at it 
 JB> dispose is the opposite of new and deestroys an anonymous variable if
 JB> you have a pointer to it



 JB> Where it gets interesting is when you make a record that contains a
 JB> pointer to a record of the same type.... then you can create a chain
 JB> of records, of any length and add or remove records at either end or in
 JB> the middle of the chain, this is called a linked list.

 JB> if you add more pointers to the record you can have a branching chain
 JB> etc... 

        Yep.  All precursors to the search engines used in most
        efficient search systems. B-Trees and all that.  Sorts.

        Luckilly not had to do a Linked list thing since college :)
        Simple today but back then it was like magic :)


... "Besides, I don't think we have the room." - Sheridan
--- Fringe BBS