dangling pointer - Everything2.com

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.

dark-side hacker	This fly loves my mouse pointer	*ptr++	dancing frog
dangling participle	wild pointer	garbage collector	Unleashed
I know you're cute no matter how many layers of abstraction you hide behind	Dead links in writeups	The Diary of Mr Poynter	dead link
George Washington's 1791 State of the Union Address	Wang	buffer overflow	March 23, 2006
George Washington's 1795 State of the Union Address	HTML heading tags	Notelet Nodelet Squawkbox Client	Garbage collection vs. manual memory management
pointer arithmetic	I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it	this is how i'm going to die.