Glossary: Pointer

A pointer is a variable that holds the address of another variable or object. Pointers play an essential part of a C++ program because it is dynamic, with objects being called into existence during execution. As the compiler and linker cannot know the address of such objects they have to be accessed via pointers.

Pointers are both declared and followed (i.e. dereferenced) using the * operator.


See OO Concepts: Pointers & References
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