CPP Free Section Starter Challenge 40 min

5. Pointers, Memory Addresses & Dereferencing

Overview: Understand direct memory access in C++: address-of operator (&), pointer variables (*), and value dereferencing.

Concept & Syntax Guide

Pointers in C++ store memory addresses of variables. Dereferencing a pointer using the `*` operator accesses or modifies the value stored at that address. Mastering pointers is fundamental to low-level systems programming.

Hands-On Practice Exercise

Inspect Memory Address and Modify Value via Pointer

Declare an integer `score = 100`, create a pointer `int* ptr = &score`, change the value via pointer to 250, and print the score.

Target Output: Updated Score via Pointer: 250

Need a hint? Click here to reveal

Hint: Check syntax carefully and make sure your code contains: Updated Score via Pointer: 250

CPP Code Editor

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#include <iostream>

int main() {
    int score = 100;
    int* ptr = &score;
    *ptr = 250;
    std::cout << "Updated Score via Pointer: " << score << std::endl;
    return 0;
}