Visualise Pointers

📺 Using Visualise Pointers (The Experiment)

Click the Start Pointer Experiment button in the status bar below to start the experiment and begin your pointer learning journey.

Here is an example of how the visualising tool looks like in action.

🖥️ What Is This Sorcery?

Welcome to Visualise Pointers, the one-stop shop for all your C++ pointer shenanigans! If you've ever found yourself tangled in a web of * and &, squinting at code that looks like it's trying to escape into a parallel dimension, this extension is for you.

Gone are the days of blindly guessing what your pointers are doing. Visualise Pointers takes your cryptic C++ code and transforms it into glorious, easy-to-follow visuals. Watch as your pointer magic unfolds before your eyes, with less confusion and fewer headaches.

We’re not just here to help you see pointers — we want you to master them! Our interactive Start Pointer Experiment feature walks you through the ins and outs of pointers in C++, starting with the basics and moving to the fancy stuff:

• What even is a pointer?
• How do you declare one without breaking everything?
• Pointer arithmetic, memory addresses, dereferencing… all wrapped in bite-sized lessons with (did we mention?) custom animations.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (tears of joy), and you’ll never fear the * and & again.

✨ Features (It's Basically Magic)

1. Pointer Visualiser: Paste in your C++ code, hit a button, and voilà! Instantly see what your pointers are doing — no more mental gymnastics required.
2. Start Learning Pointers (With Style): A guided tutorial that makes learning pointers fun (yeah, we said it). This feature is packed with:
   • Custom-made animated videos 🍿 (They’re basically Pixar for coders).
   • Interactive lessons where you can play with pointers until you're a pointer wizard 🧙‍♂️.
3. Pointer Operations Breakdown: Get a step-by-step breakdown of pointer dereferencing, memory addresses, pointer arithmetic, and all those juicy operations that make C++ pointers a developer’s guilty pleasure.

🧠 Why You Need This Extension (Like, Yesterday)

• You won’t have to explain what pointers do to your boss (or yourself) at 2 a.m.
• That feeling when you finally get pointers? Yeah, we package that feeling and deliver it straight to your brain.
• C++ is hard enough. Let Visualise Pointers be your trusty sidekick. 🦸‍♀️

🛠️ How Does It Work?

In the spirit of keeping things fun and simple: imagine pointers are arrows, and variables are boxes. Our extension shows you where those arrows are pointing, where the boxes are hiding, and what happens when you decide to do strange things like add numbers to arrows (you wild thing, you).

It’s like having X-ray vision for your code… or at least, for your pointers.

🐞 Found a Bug?

If your pointers start pointing to Narnia, or you just want to chat, feel free to file an issue or drop us a note! We’re pretty chill about feedback. 👽

🖥 Windows Only (For Now) 🚧

Heads up! Visualise Pointers currently only works on Windows. Sorry, Steve Jobs fans and all you Linnerds out there — we'll get to you eventually. Until then, you might have to borrow your friend's Windows machine or dust off that old PC. 😅 Stay tuned for future updates!

Visualise Pointers: Making C++ pointers 1000% less mysterious since… now.

🤪 Wanna Point Fun at Us (or Our Software)? Contact Us!

If you’ve got beef with our pointers, found a bug, or just wanna share how Visualise Pointers has completely changed your life, feel free to point fun our way! File an issue, and we promise to take it (mostly) seriously. 😎 Contact Us: visualisepointers@gmail.com

Authors:

Joseph Kaplan & Akiva Levitt

Happy coding! 🎉