Basic C++ programming question - c++

Question

I am in process of learning c++. I am working on creating a linkedlist data structure. One of the functions that displays the values of nodes in the structure does not work. For some reason the while loop that traverses through nodes doesn't work in the display function, hence I can't see the values in those nodes. Does anyone see what the problem is? I've been staring at the code for a while and not sure what is wrong here.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Header:
// linklist.h
// class definitions
#ifndef LINKLIST_H
#define LINKLIST_H
class linklist
{
private:
// structure containing a data part and link part
struct node
{
int data;
node *link;
}*p;
public:
linklist();
void append(int num);
void addatbeg(int num);
void addafter(int loc, int num);
void display();
int count();
void del(int num);
~linklist();
};
#endif
.cpp file
// LinkedListLecture.cpp
// Class LinkedList implementation
#include"linklist.h"
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
// initializes data member
linklist::linklist()
{
p =NULL;
}
// adds a node at the end of a linked list
void linklist::append(int num)
{
node *temp, *r;
// if the list is empty, create first node
if(p==NULL)
{
temp = new node;
temp->data = num;
temp->link = NULL;
}
else
{
// go to last node
temp = p;
while(temp->link!=NULL)
temp = temp->link;
// add node at the end
r = new node;
r->data=num;
r->link=NULL;
temp->link=r;
}
}
// displays the contents of the linked list
void linklist::display()
{
node *temp = p;
cout<< endl;
// traverse the entire linked list
while(temp!=NULL) // DEBUG: the loop doesn't work
{
cout<<temp->data<<" ";
temp = temp->link;
}
void main()
{
linklist l;
l.append(14);
l.append(30);
l.append(25);
l.append(42);
l.append(17);
cout<<"Elements in the linked list:";
l.display(); // this function doesn't work
system("PAUSE");
}

Answer 1

You never set p to a non NULL value.
if(p==NULL)
{
p = new node;
p->data = num;
p->link = NULL;
}

Answer 2

I think GWW has highlighted the issue, but part of learning to program it to learn how to identify the mistakes.
If you do something and don't get the expected result you could:
Use the visual c++ debugger to step through and see the values of your variables.
Put in log lines to report information you think is important
inspect the code - if you think something is right but it doesn't work, then go to an earlier step and check it does the right thing.
Add unit tests, or follow design by contract adding pre/post conditions and class invariants.
Learning to program C++ by writing a linked list is like learning math by adding 1 + 1. It is old fashioned thinking, slow and mostly boring without having any context.
Math isn't calculating, like C++ programming isn't pointer manipulation. At some stage you might need to know about it, but your better off learning other important things like stl and boost.
If it was understood that append() ment create something, find the end of the list, add it. you could then see that in you append function you have create something mixed uyp with move to the end of the list, but you never add it.