A Pointer is a common data type in computer programming. It holds the memory address of another element in the program, or a null value.
Pointers are often used to hold the base address of arrays and to make links between nodes in trees and linked lists.
Some programming languages (such as assembly language and C) allow some limited arithmetic on pointers.
Other languages (such as Scheme and the Java programming language) do not allow such arithmetic, treating pointers as an opaque type; such languages commonly refer to pointers as references.
Pointer Fun With Binky (http://cslibrary.stanford.edu/104/) Introduction to pointers in a 3 minute educational video - Stanford Computer Science Education Library
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