Pointers in C - Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering key concepts related to pointers in C programming.

Pointer

A variable that stores the memory address of another variable.

& Operator

The address-of operator, used to obtain the memory address of a variable.

• Operator

The dereference operator, used to access the value at the memory address held by a pointer.

Null Pointer

A pointer that has not been initialized and holds a garbage address.

Pointer Arithmetic

Operations that manipulate the address stored in a pointer to navigate through memory.

Function Pointer

A variable that stores the address of a function, allowing the function to be called through the pointer.

Dynamic Memory Allocation

Requesting memory from the heap at runtime; includes functions like malloc, calloc, realloc, and free.

malloc()

Allocates a specified number of bytes in memory; returns a pointer to the allocated memory.

calloc()

Allocates memory for an array of specified elements and initializes all bytes to zero.

free()

Releases allocated memory back to the heap to prevent memory leaks.