Pointers
A pointer is a variable that contains the address in memory of another variable.
The two most important operators used with the pointer type are
- & – The unary operator & which gives the address of a variable
- * – The indirection or dereference operator * gives the content of the object pointed to by a pointer.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Pointers
Advantages of Pointers:
- Pointers in C programming are helpful to access a memory location.
- Pointers are an effective way to access the array structure elements.
- Pointers are used for the allocation of dynamic memory and distribution.
Disadvantages of Pointers
- A pointer can be dangerous when an attempt is made to access an area of memory that is either out of range of program or that does not contain a pointer reference to a legitimate object.
- Pointer is dangerous when use of explicit type casts in converting between pointer types
- It is dangerous when a NULL pointer is de-referenced, because on some computer it may return 0 and permitting execution to continue, or it may return the result stored in location zero, so it may produce a serious error.