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Common Uses for Pointers (Optional Attributes)

• One use for pointers is optional attributes.
• If the attribute is needed, the pointer is set to the address of the object; otherwise the pointer will be set to NULL.

  class Department
  {
   . . .
  private:
     string name;
     Employee* receptionist;
  };
  

• This is better than allocating space for an object that might not be used.

  class Department // modeled without pointer
  {
   . . .
  private:
     string name;
     bool has_receptionist;
     Employee receptionist;
  };
  

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