dangling pointer

created by afni
(idea) by Jargon (2 y) (print)   (I like it!) Thu Jul 19 2001 at 6:58:11
dancing frog = D = dark-side hacker

dangling pointer n.

[common] A reference that doesn't actually lead anywhere (in C and some other languages, a pointer that doesn't actually point at anything valid). Usually this happens because it formerly pointed to something that has moved or disappeared. Used as jargon in a generalization of its techspeak meaning; for example, a local phone number for a person who has since moved to the other coast is a dangling pointer. Compare dead link.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

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