CMPSC 311 - Arrays and Pointers Vocabulary

Flashcards about Arrays and Pointers in C Systems Programming

Pointer

A variable that contains a memory address.

Dereference

Access the memory referred to by a pointer.

Pass by reference

Pointers allow C to emulate this.

Auto Storage Class

Variables that are automatically allocated and deallocated (local function variables declared on stack).

Global Storage Class

Globally defined variables that can be accessed anywhere within the program.

Static Storage Class

A variable that is global to the local file only (static global variable) or to the scope of a function (static local variable).

Array Initialization

Allocates an array and fills it with supplied values; if fewer values are given than the array size, fills rest with 0.

Multi-dimensional Arrays

Allocates a 2D array and fills it with predefined values.

Pointer

Array name can be used as this to the 0th element.

Pointer Arithmetic

Adding integer i to pointer p yields a pointer to the element i places after the one that p points to.

Arrays as Function Parameters

When passing an array as an argument to a function, the address of the 0-th element is passed by value – copied to a pointer in the callee.

Virtual Memory

Each process has the illusion of its own, private memory.

ASLR

Randomizes executable code location, base of stack, and shared library location for added security.