Importance of this specific piece of code in producing the correct result?

[plususerz]

Why is the piece of code: " getSeconds(&sec);" necessary to produce the correct result?

With the following code, it produces a number:
Number of seconds :1294450468

#include <iostream>
#include <ctime>
 
using namespace std;
void getSeconds(unsigned long *par);

int main ()
{
   unsigned long sec;


   getSeconds( &sec );

   // print the actual value
   cout << "Number of seconds :" << sec << endl;

   return 0;
}

void getSeconds(unsigned long *par)
{
   // get the current number of seconds
   *par = time( NULL );
   return;
}

However, without the piece of code: " getSeconds(&sec);" it produces a constant:
Number of seconds: 4285854

The latter result is obviously not the address, but I also don't know what it is, and why this constant appears when the mentioned piece of code is deleted.

[Won]

time(NULL) returns the current time.

If you don't use that, than your unsigned long sec; variable doesn't have a value. You declared it, but you didn't give it some value. In this case, you get some strange values, which comes from memory.
(Try it out, with other variables: declare it and than write out without giving it a value.)