What is a pointer?

Answer 1

It is a kind of virtual object, in that it only *points to* the original, rather than representing a physical copy of the data in memory. Think of it like an ID number for a big form of information you have to fill out. Rather than having to make copies of all the data on the form every time you need to give it to someone, you just give them the number instead and when they need the data they can go look up the original. It's a way to efficiently pass data by passing references to the data rather than copies of the data.

Answer 2

It's essentially a variable, just like an integer, and it contains a number. That number is the base memory address of the data it points to. It is type-casted so the compiler knows how to calculate and manipulate the value it points to as if it were a regular variable.

Answer 3

A pointer is the address in memory at which a variable is stored.. and can therefore be thought of as a reference to that variable