Re: WHAT vs HOW vs WHERE

"Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net> wrote in message news:dZKdnWuOdeHdYiXdRVn-tw_at_comcast.com...
>
> "Dawn M. Wolthuis" <dwolt_at_tincat-group.com> wrote in message
> news:c9amjp$9fc$1_at_news.netins.net...
> > I probably use an unacceptable def of "pointer" since I used it for any
> > value that is in the domain of a function -- it points to something in
the
> > range of the function. In Java they use the term "reference" because
they
> > think "pointer" has a connotation of a variable that can be modified.
So,
> a
> > couple of questions --
>
> > If you have a definition, even just from your head, of what you mean by
> > "pointer" that would help.
>
> You've been using the word "pointer" in this forum for a few months.
All
> this time, I *thought* you and I and most others meant the same thing by
> it.
>
> Maybe not.
>
> Off the top of my head, a pointer is an address, represented as a data
> value.

Since I was working logically (I realize that is a matter of opinion ;-), I wasn't thinking about "physical" address pointers within the computer. I was thinking logical pointers as in navigational information from a foreign key in one relation to a primary key in another (effectively a mapping). Also, I have worked at the higher levels in the architecture (user interface and such) as well as more in systems analysis and design (and I guess I could admit to being a manager for well over a decade) and my formal education is not in computing, so I'm still learnin'.

I figured that address was a physical term and pointer a logical one and maybe that is still true?
Thanks. --dawn Received on Sun May 30 2004 - 02:43:03 CEST