basic pointer question

[Luna]

On Friday, 11 July 2025 at 22:17:02 UTC, WhatMeWorry wrote:
> ```
> // working function
>
> SDL_Texture* changeTextureAccess(SDL_Texture *texture, 
> SDL_TextureAccess newAccess)
> {
>     // pertinent code only
>     texture = createTexture(renderer, pixelFormat, newAccess, 
> width, height);
>     return texture;
> }
> ```
>
> The above function is working for me when I call it with:
> ```
> SDL_Texture* sameTexture = changeTextureAccess(sameTexture, 
> SDL_TEXTUREACCESS_STREAMING)
> ```
> but I thought a better solution would be simply:
> ```
> void changeTextureAccess(SDL_Texture **texture, 
> SDL_TextureAccess newAccess)
> ```
> Isn't the only way to update a function parameter is by making 
> it a pointer?
> So I thought something like
> ```
> *texture = createTexture(renderer, pixelFormat, newAccess, 
> width, height);
> ```
> would work but that just leads to a whole bunch of other lines 
> of code returning compiler errors.  Am I at least on the right 
> track here?  I've been throwing lots of * and & all around and 
> not getting anywhere?

You’re going in the right direction yes; SDL_Texture** would be a 
pointer to a SDL_Texture pointer; however such a pointer needs to 
be valid.

I would recommend using `ref`; eg `ref SDL_Texture*`; which would 
be safer given that the SDL_Texture* provided then has to be a 
valid variable to store the pointer into.

As for creating and dereferencing references; without seeing the 
errors in question I am not sure I can provide a good answer.