C# Language Pointers

Help us to keep this website almost Ad Free! It takes only 10 seconds of your time:
> Step 1: Go view our video on YouTube: EF Core Bulk Extensions
> Step 2: And Like the video. BONUS: You can also share it!

Remarks

Pointers and unsafe

Due to their nature, pointers produce unverifiable code. Thus, usage of any pointer type requires an unsafe context.

The type System.IntPtr is a safe wrapper around a void*. It is intended as a more convenient alternative to void* when an unsafe context isn't otherwise required to perform the task at hand.

Undefined behavior

Like in C and C++, incorrect usage of pointers can invoke undefined behavior, with possible side-effects being memory corruption and execution of unintended code. Due to the unverifiable nature of most pointer operations, correct usage of pointers is entirely a responsibility of the programmer.

Types that support pointers

Unlike C and C++, not all C# types have corresponding pointer types. A type T may have a corresponding pointer type if both of the following criteria apply:

  • T is a struct type or a pointer type.
  • T contains only members that satisfy both of these criteria recursively.


Got any C# Language Question?