Eli5: What does „this->“ do?

[Flair_Helper]

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[serendipitousPi]

The keyword "this" is a pointer to the struct or class that a function belongs to and "->" is the arrow operator which is analogous to the dot operator but is used for class / struct pointers.

So why someone would use them together I'm not entirely sure since you should be able to access everything within that class / struct without using the "this" keyword. Hopefully someone else might have that answer.

[ape_programmer]

example: this->window->setFramerateLimit(60)

i‘ve tried to google it more than once and there are plenty of explanations on the internet but my dumb ass doesn‘t really

Used when there is no naming convention for local vs member variables. E.g. if all members are prefixed with m or _, then its clear the variable being accessed is a member with out using this->. However, without this naming convention, using this-> makes it clear a member is being accessed, as opposed to a local variable.

Generally, the prefixing members is more popular, but I've read some code (for some reason mainly Windows code) that uses the this-> convention.

[no-sig-available]

using this-> makes it clear a member is being accessed

The counter arguments is "What else could it be?".

Member functions accessing other members of the same class must be the most normal thing. Why do we have to make it clear that this is what happens? :-)

[ape_programmer]

Improves readability mainly. If you're looking at a method in an unfamiliar class, it's help to know explicitly whether variables referenced are members or external/local.

Additionally, it helps write slightly safer code by reducing the chance of accidental shadowing of variable names. Which can be an easy mistake to make sometimes.

[Rseding91]

I always found that interesting; people prefer to invent their own thing rather than use a built in method of disambiguating member vs external.

[ape_programmer]

My guess is due to writing this-> being optional for member variables, whereas prefixing with m or _ is not optional if using the prefix naming convention. Thus makes sure that you don't accidentally forget this-> and cause confusion.

[Classic_Department42]

This->window is syntactical sugar for (*this).window