Pointers are just a variable that 'points' to a memory address, it holds an integer value.
In a x86 Application a memory address comprises 32 bits or 8 bytes, represented usually in hexadecimal, i.e. 0x001FFCA8
In turn, these pointers are also stored in memory and have its own address.
In C++11 we can use nullptr, instead of NULL
NULL is just a #define NULL 0, nullptr is a modern way to be 'extra-clear` about our intents.
Observation: Due to Little Endian or Big Endian, you can see the memory allocating its value backwards. This is simply referred as the 'endianness' of our computer.
0x001FFCA8, could be represented as A8 CA FF 01
void* ptr = NULL;
void* ptr = nullptr;int var = 8;
void* ptr = &var;
std::cin.get();We can inspect the memory going to DEBUG -> Windows -> Memory -> Memory 1 or CTRL+ALT+M, 1
// char uses 1 byte, so we are using 8 bytes
// the 'new' keyword allocates memory in the heap
char* buffer = new char[8];
// setting 8 times, the value 0, starting at &buffer
memset(buffer, 0, 8);
// a pointer to a pointer
char** ptr = &buffer;
// dealocate our memory from the heap
delete[] buffer;
std::cin.get();