c++ - Pop function on Linked list stack

Question

Hello I have a problem to returned variable from my pop function. I will be happy if you could help me. The function receives a pointer to the top of the list and should return the answer but I have a problem with a pointer to the list and intger the answer.

Function Code -

int pop(Node* top)
{
    Node* tmp = top;
    int ans = tmp->next;
    top = top->next;
    delete tmp;
    return ans;
}

Node -

struct Node
{
int num;
Node* next;
}


Node* top = new Node;

Answer 1

The line int ans = tmp->next; appears to be the source of the problem. This is attempting to take the next pointer in the node, convert it to an int, and return it. What you (almost certainly) want is to retrieve the data from the node and return that, with something like int ans = tmp->num;.

Of course, that's not saying the code is perfect otherwise (e.g., it seems to lack any attempt at checking for, not to mention dealing with, errors), but at least with that change, it stands some chance of working correctly under some (ideal) circumstances.