.. _arduino-pointer:

The pointer operators: & (reference) and \* (dereference)
=========================================================


Pointers are one of the more complicated subjects for beginners in
learning C, and it is possible to write the vast majority of
Arduino sketches without ever encountering pointers. However for
manipulating certain data structures, the use of pointers can
simplify the code, and and knowledge of manipulating pointers is
handy to have in one's toolkit.

Introducing pointers is somewhat outside the scope of this
documentation.  However, a good `pointer tutorial
<http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/pointers/>`_ is available.
Also see the `Wikipedia article on pointers
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointer_%28computing%29>`_, especially
the section on `pointers in C
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointer_%28computing%29#C_pointers>`_.

See Also
========

- http://xkcd.com/138/