Bad<Ptr> question

[alMarshy]

In a book I am learning from the author does this:

unsigned char* storage;
storage=0;

however whenever I try this I get a Bad<Ptr>
CXX0030: Error: expression cannot be evaluated
for storage when I run debug. Am I overlooking something or should this be an error?

here is an exerpt from the code in the book

//Stash.h 
struct Stash {
  int size;      // Size of each space
  int quantity;  // Number of storage spaces
  int next;      // Next empty space
   // Dynamically allocated array of bytes:
  unsigned char* storage;
  // Functions!
  void initialize(int size);
  void cleanup();
  int add(const void* element);
  void* fetch(int index);
  int count();
  void inflate(int increase);
}; 

// Stash.cpp
void Stash::initialize(int sz) {
  size = sz;
  quantity = 0;
  storage = 0; // here is where I get the Bad <Ptr>
  next = 0;
}

[firedraco]

That should not be giving an error...I don't see any problems with that code (aside from not using an initializer list).

[Thumper]

Not sure if I'm right or not, but shouldn't you have to set storage = " "? I don't know if 0 translates to NULL or not.

Otherwise you could try using ZeroMemory() to clear the pointer of whatever garbage is in there when its allocated.

[firedraco]

I don't know if 0 translates to NULL or not.

In C++, 0 and NULL are the same.

Maybe the problem is you are dereferencing the pointer? You can't do that if it is NULL.