Understanding and Using C Pointers

Preface

C is an important language and has had extensive treatment over the years. Central to the language are pointers that provide much of the flexibility and power found in the language. It provides the mechanism to dynamically manipulate memory, enhances support for data structures, and enables access to hardware. This power and flexibility comes with a price: pointers can be difficult to master.

Why This Book Is Different

Numerous books have been written about C. They usually offer a broad coverage of the language while addressing pointers only to the extent necessary for the topic at hand. Rarely do they venture beyond a basic treatment of pointers and most give only cursory coverage of the important memory management technology involving the stack and the heap. Yet without this discussion, only an incomplete understanding of pointers can be obtained. The stack and heap are areas of memory used to support functions and dynamic memory allocation, respectively.

Pointers are complex enough to deserve more in-depth treatment. This book provides that treatment by focusing on pointers to convey a deeper understanding of C. Part of this understanding requires a working knowledge of the program stack and heap along with the use of pointers in this context. Any area of knowledge can be understood at varying degrees, ranging from a cursory overview to an in-depth, intuitive understanding. That higher level of understanding for C can only be achieved with a solid understanding of pointers ...