Do other languages have pointers?

4 Answers. Technically, all languages use pointers. When you create an instance of an object in Java or C# or Javascript and pass it to a method you are actually passing a pointer to the piece of memory that contains that object by which you will manipulate the data on that piece of memory.

Are pointers still used?

The underlying system behind many modern programming languages still uses pointers but they do not expose the complexity & accessibility of pointers to the programmers.

Is pointer used in Python?

No, we don’t have any kind of Pointer in Python language. The objects are passed to function by reference. The mechanism used in Python is exactly like passing pointers by the value in C.

Is it possible to declare a pointer to a pointer?

A pointer to a pointer is a form of multiple indirection, or a chain of pointers. When we define a pointer to a pointer, the first pointer contains the address of the second pointer, which points to the location that contains the actual value as shown below.

Why there are no pointers in C#?

C# supports pointers in a limited extent. A C# pointer is nothing but a variable that holds the memory address of another type. But in C# pointer can only be declared to hold the memory address of value types and arrays. Unlike reference types, pointer types are not tracked by the default garbage collection mechanism.

Is it possible to not use a pointer?

Pointers are a fundamental part of the language, so not using them is pretty much impossible except in the most trival of programs. Share Improve this answer Follow answered Mar 11 ’11 at 6:59 jmqjmq 5,97044 gold badges2626 silver badges3939 bronze badges 5 22

Are pointers a security risk?

Beside the risk of memory leaks stated by @jmquigley pointer and pointer arithmetic can be considered problematic because pointers can point everywhere in memory causing “hard to find bugs” and “security vulnerableties”. That is why they were nearly abandoned in C# and Java.

Why do we need so many pointers in C++?

As a result, most of the C++ code that is written is still littered with superfluous pointers which make the code complex, slow and faulty / unreliable. For somebody who knows modern C++, it’s clear that you very rarely need any pointers (either smart or raw; except when using them as iterators).

Do modern C++ idioms need pointers?

But in modern C++, this paradigm is rarely the best choice, and modern C++ idioms often don’t need pointers at all. They operate on values rather than pointers. Unfortunately, this message has still not caught on in large parts of the C++ user community.