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Pawan Kumar, Lovely Professional University Unit 4: Pointers

Unit 4: Pointers

CONTENTS
Objectives

Introduction
4.1 Fundamentals of Pointers
4.2 Operations on Pointers
4.3 Dangling Pointers
4.4 Pointers to Functions
4.5 Pointers and Arrays

4.5.1 Array of Pointers
4.6 Records and Record Structures
4.6.1 Indexing Items in a Record
4.7 Representation of Records in Memory - Parallel Arrays
4.7.1 Variable Length Records
4.8 Summary
4.9 Keywords
4.10 Self Assessment

4.11 Review Questions
4.12 Further Readings
Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Understand the fundamentals of pointers
• Analyze the operations on pointers
• Explain dangling pointers
• Discuss the concept of pointers to functions

• Describe pointers and arrays
• Explain records and record structures
• Analyze the representation of records in memory - parallel arrays
Introduction

In C language, pointers are one of the strongest and the most powerful feature as they allow dynamic
allocation of memory. Pointers are variables that point to data items. They store the reference of another
variable. Although pointers provide flexibility while structuring data, you need to use pointers with
caution as they can introduce bugs. These bugs cause difficulty while debugging a program.
You can use pointers to write compact codes, thereby reducing the program length and complexity. The
method of passing the address of an argument in the calling function to a corresponding parameter in
the called function is called “pass by reference”. This method helps to access the data faster and
supports dynamic allocation of memory. It can be used to access the byte or word locations and CPU
registers. Dangling pointer is a pointer that points to a deleted object. Uninitialized pointers having

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