How can I use pointers in Java?

Question

I know Java doesn't have pointers, but I heard that Java programs can be created with pointers and that this can be done by the few who are experts in java. Is it true?

Answer 1

Technically, all Java objects are pointers. All primitive types are values though. There is no way to take manual control of those pointers. Java just internally uses pass-by-reference.

Answer 2

As Java has no pointer data types, it is impossible to use pointers in Java. Even the few experts will not be able to use pointers in java.

see also the last point in this webpage

Answer 3

Not really, no.

Java doesn't have pointers. If you really wanted you could try to emulate them by building around something like reflection, but it would have all of the complexity of pointers with none of the benefits.

Java doesn't have pointers because it doesn't need them. What kind of answers were you hoping for from this question, i.e. deep down did you hope you could use them for something or was this just curiousity?

Answer 4

Java does not have pointers like C has, but it does allow you to create new objects on the heap which are "referenced" by variables. The lack of pointers is to stop Java programs from referencing memory locations illegally, and also enables Garbage Collection to be automatically carried out by the Java Virtual Machine.

Answer 5

All objects in java are passed to functions by reference copy except primitives.

In effect, this means that you are sending a copy of the pointer to the original object rather than a copy of the object itself.

Please leave a comment if you want an example to understand this.

Answer 6

Java does have pointers. Any time you create an object in Java, you're actually creating a pointer to the object; this pointer could then be set to a different object or to null, and the original object will still exist (pending garbage collection).

What you can't do in Java is pointer arithmetic. You can't dereference a specific memory address or increment a pointer.

If you really want to get low-level, the only way to do it is with the Java Native Interface; and even then, the low-level part has to be done in C or C++.

Answer 7

All object you use in java is reference and you can use it like pointer .

abstract class Animal
{...
}

class Lion extends Animal
{...
}

class Tiger extends Animal
{   
public Tiger() {...}
public void growl(){...}
}

Tiger first = null;
Tiger second = new Tiger();
Tiger third;

Dereference null :

first.growl();  // ERROR, first is null.    
third.growl(); // ERROR, third has not been initialized.

Aliasing Problems :

third = new Tiger();
first = third;

Losing Cells:

second = third; // Possible ERROR. The old value of second is lost.

You can make this safe by first assuring that there is no further need of the old value of second or assigning another pointer the value of second.

first = second;
second = third; //OK

Note that giving second a value in other ways (NULL, new...) is just as much a potential error and may result in losing the object that it points to.

The Java system will throw an exception (OutOfMemoryError) when you call new and the allocator cannot allocate the requested cell. This is very rare and usually results from runaway recursion.

Note that, from a language point of view, abandoning objects to the garbage collector are not errors at all. It is just something that the programmer needs to be aware of. The same variable can point to different objects at different times and old values will be reclaimed when no pointer references them. But if the logic of the program requires maintaining at least one reference to the object, they become errors.

Novices often make the following error.

Tiger tony = new Tiger();
tony = third; // Error, the new object allocated above is reclaimed.

What you probably meant to say was:

Tiger tony = null;
tony = third; // OK.

Improper Casting:

Lion leo = new Lion();
Tiger tony = (Tiger)leo; // Always illegal and caught by compiler. 

Animal whatever = new Lion(); // Legal.
Tiger tony = (Tiger)whatever; // Illegal, just as in previous example.
Lion leo = (Lion)whatever; // Legal, object whatever really is a Lion.

---

C Version pointer :

void main() {   
    int*    x;  // Allocate the pointers x and y
    int*    y;  // (but not the pointees)

    x = malloc(sizeof(int));    // Allocate an int pointee,
                                // and set x to point to it

    *x = 42;    // Dereference x to store 42 in its pointee

    *y = 13;    // CRASH -- y does not have a pointee yet

    y = x;      // Pointer assignment sets y to point to x's pointee

    *y = 13;    // Dereference y to store 13 in its (shared) pointee
}

java Version pointer :

class IntObj {
    public int value;
}

public class Binky() {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        IntObj  x;  // Allocate the pointers x and y
        IntObj  y;  // (but not the IntObj pointees)

        x = new IntObj();   // Allocate an IntObj pointee
                            // and set x to point to it

        x.value = 42;   // Dereference x to store 42 in its pointee

        y.value = 13;   // CRASH -- y does not have a pointee yet

        y = x;  // Pointer assignment sets y to point to x's pointee

        y.value = 13;   // Deference y to store 13 in its (shared) pointee
    }
}

but you failed to address one key difference: C has pointer arithmetics. (Fortunately) you can't do that in Java

Answer 8

As others have said, the short answer is "No".

Sure, you could write JNI code that plays with Java pointers. Depending on what you're trying to accomplish, maybe that would get you somewhere and maybe it wouldn't.

You could always simulate pointes by creating an array and working with indexes into the array. Again, depending on what you're trying to accomplish, that might or might not be useful.

Answer 9

You can use addresses and pointers using the Unsafe class. However as the name suggests, these methods are UNSAFE and generally a bad idea. Incorrect usage can result in your JVM randomly dying (actually the same problem get using pointers incorrectly in C/C++)

While you may be used to pointers and think you need them (because you don't know how to code any other way), you will find that you don't and you will be better off for it.

Answer 10

you can have pointers for literals as well. You have to implement them yourself. It is pretty basic for experts ;). Use an array of int/object/long/byte and voila you have the basics for implementing pointers. Now any int value can be a pointer to that array int[]. You can increment the pointer, you can decrement the pointer, you can multiply the pointer. You indeed have pointer arithmetics! That's the only way to implements 1000 int attributes classes and have a generic method that applies to all attributes. You can also use a byte[] array instead of an int[]

However I do wish Java would let you pass literal values by reference. Something along the lines

//(* telling you it is a pointer) public void myMethod(int* intValue);