Pass variable by reference/pointer

[gumby]

Is this even possible?  I've re-read the tutorials here & the Studio help files, but haven't turned anything up - nothing talks about pointers or passing-by-reference that I can find.

[Cloudee1]

What's a pointer?

[gumby]

It's a reference to a variable or object.  In my case I want to access an object from within a procedure.  In my case, I'd like to pass in a reference/pointer to an object rather than the object itself.  I guess I could just make the object accessible globally & then I wouldn't have to pass anything in, but that could get messy... 

[MusicallyInspired]

What's a pointer?

Lol, don't ever take up advanced C/C++ programming. Pointers can be a nightmare if you can't wrap your head around them or how to use them (I sure can't).

I don't think the SCI language is capable of dealing with pointers. I believe I heard this mentioned officially from troflip or Brian in the past.

[gumby]

I don't think the SCI language is capable of dealing with pointers. I believe I heard this mentioned officially from troflip or Brian in the past.

That's kinda what I figured, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something somewhere.  I guess it's global variables & objects for me!

[lskovlun]

Well, you can get a pointer using the @ operator. The problem is, you can't dereference a pointer again, only pass it to kernel functions.
So it depends on what you want to do with it: While integers or arrays are out of the question (in SCI0, anyway), strings will work.
But reading the thread again, I think you're not realizing that when you pass an object to a subroutine,
you are indeed passing a pointer to it. That's how setMotion calls work - by taking a pointer to the motion class you want to use,
cloning it and then using the clone for the duration of the motion.

[gumby]

I think you're not realizing that when you pass an object to a subroutine, you are indeed passing a pointer to it.

Yep, you're right.  I looked at SetJump for example and it does use a pointer as it's first argument.  And now that I think about it some of string kernel functions utilize pointers in their calls as well.

Well, you can get a pointer using the @ operator. The problem is, you can't dereference a pointer again, only pass it to kernel functions
...
cloning it and then using the clone for the duration of the motion.

In my case, I want to be able to manipulate the original object within the procedure; using a clone would not preserve the changes to the original object.

EDIT:  I guess I could return the clone and set the original to it (of course this would only work with a single object, but it's something...)

[lskovlun]

In my case, I want to be able to manipulate the original object within the procedure; using a clone would not preserve the changes to the original object.

It is not the case that object values are "magically" restored once you return from a subroutine call. An object is always passed to subroutines by reference. I'm afraid I can't see the problem.

[gumby]

I understand now. Since objects are passed by reference, I am working with the original object.  Sorry for the dense moment... and thanks for getting me back on track.