this post was submitted on 18 May 2025
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C Programming: Pointer Anology (lemm.ee)
submitted 1 day ago by Ryick@lemm.ee to c/programming@programming.dev
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Pointers in C can often be difficult to understand—I certainly had a learning curve and am continuing to learn. However, I had a thought that may help some by comparing a common experience and wanted to share.

A pointer in C behaves just like a word in any spoken language which refers to a physical object or multiple objects and the uniqueness of each object (e.g Skippy the dog, Mittens and Tiger the cats, fork number 5). The word itself does not contain the physical object and its uniqueness but only communicates the existence of the physical object and its uniqueness. The pointer itself does not contain the physical address and its value but only communicates the existence of the physical address and its value.

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[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Pronouns are pointers. "Let us (let's) move it over there." Both "us" and "it" indirectly refer to something else by a new name. Like pointers, the pointees are defined by some context external to that sentence/statement (usually earlier sentences/statements or some other actions). The meaning of "us" and "it" can change as well in different contexts, and as such, those words are not bound to one value (and "rebinding" those words by changing contexts does not change the values they were previously bound to).

[–] Ryick@lemm.ee 2 points 15 hours ago

Yes! 😁

One could even say that the pronouns “him” and “her” could indicate specific types of pointers, like int and char.