C51. C Null Pointers

Null Pointers

When a memory allocation function is called, there's always a possibility that it won't be able to locate a block of memory large enough to satisfy our request. If that should happen, the function will return a null pointer. A null pointer is a "pointer to nothing" a special value that can be distinguished from all valid pointers. After we've stored the function's return value in a pointer variable, we must test to see if it's a null pointer.

It's the programmer's responsibility to test the return value of any memory alloca­tion function and take appropriate action if it's a null pointer. The effect of attempt­ing to access memory through a null pointer is undefined: the program may crash or behave unpredictably.