Key Concepts

Review core concepts you need to learn to master this subject

What is a pointer?

Declaring Pointers

Accessing Memory Address

Dereferencing Pointers

Incrementing and Decrementing Pointers

Accessing Arrays

What is a pointer?

A pointer is a variable that stores the hexadecimal address of the variable it is pointing to.

Pointers: Lesson
Lesson 1 of 1
  1. 1
    Memory in C
    For a program to execute, it must use some of the computer’s resources such as CPU, RAM, IO, or other hardware. Deciding how and at what capacity to use these resources is the job of the underlying…
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  2. 2
    Pointers
    In C, a byte of memory can be accessed using a pointer. A pointer containing the address of a variable is said to “point” to that variable. Recall that when you declare a variable, a contiguous …
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  3. 3
    The Reference Operator
    Since pointers are used to store the memory address of a variable, we need to obtain this address first. This is done by using the reference operator (&). The syntax for this is: > &variableName…
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  4. 4
    The Dereference Operator
    If we have a pointer that is assigned the memory address of a variable, eventually we will need to access the data that it contains so we can use or manipulate it. The data contained in the memory …
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  5. 5
    Pointer Arithmetic
    Remember that a pointer is a special type of integer variable. This implies that basic arithmetic operations can be done on pointers. In this exercise, we will explore this idea. The only arithmet…
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  6. 6
    Pointers & Arrays
    In the lesson on arrays, you learned that an array is a contiguous block of memory reserved for many variables of the same type. Because of this structured organization, a pointer is well suited to…
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  7. 7
    Review
    Congratulations on completing this lesson on pointers and memory management! Here is a brief recap of everything you’ve learned: * The base unit of memory is a byte. * Memory is represented as a…
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