Coding interview questions certainly come out of the box especially during the placement drives. But, that does not mean that you cannot tackle those questions within the given time limit!

From Data Structure and Algorithms to Pointers, coding interview questions definitely come with a twist that one cannot predict until they have appeared for the tests themselves.

With that said, the Coding Interviews are also very versatile when it comes to picking a programming language of your choice for writing the codes.

If you are a C developer, then it is vital to understand and tackle questions on Pointers in C in order to shine through during your coding interview.

In effect to that, make sure to read this blog till the end to learn the concept of Pointers in C programming.

Learn about Pointers in C programming

Pointers are a fundamental part of computer programming. They can be used to store a memory address of another variable, which allows for indirect addressing. 

The pointer is then used to access the data. Pointers are especially useful when dealing with variables that are dynamic and must be accessed in many different places.

The only issue with pointers is that they can be confusing to beginners, but they are an important tool that can be used to create many different programs.

With effect to that, we would definitely recommend practicing questions based on Pointers if you are interested in landing jobs in some of the highly reputed Multinational Tech Corporates such as Amazon, Google or Microsoft.

Practice Pointers: C programming questions and answers

If you're searching for "pointer interview questions in C or C+" or "advanced pointer questions in C or C+", you've come to the right blog. 

In this blog you will find a series of "pointer interview questions with answers in C or C+" that interviewers might ask during your technical interview.

Text Based Questions on Pointers 

In the following section you will find important text based questions on C programming that are important from an interview perspective.

Q. How would you define Pointers in C programming?

Ans. Pointers are similar to variables, the only difference is that pointers are used for storing the address of a specific memory location whereas variables store values. On that note, we can say that pointers are used to refer to locations in memory.

If you use a pointer in order to save an address in memory, you can also use indirection techniques to get the position of the pointer from the address.

Q. What do you mean by NULL Pointer?

Ans. In C standard, an integer's constant expression along with a value of 0 or a similar expression made to express a type of void x is commonly referred to as a constant null pointer. When a constant NULL pointer is converted into a pointer type, the resultant pointer is called his NULL pointer.

Q. Define generic pointers or void in C programming.

Ans. A generic pointer is defined as the void pointer which has no associated data type. It stores the address of any type of object or cast.  

According to the C standard, pointers to void must have the same appearance and alignment requirements as pointers to character types. 

A void pointer declaration is similar to a regular pointer, the difference being the use of the void keyword instead of the data type.

Q. How would you define a dangling Pointer in the C programming?

Ans. Dagging pointers generally occur when the referenced object is deallocated or deleted without shifting the value of the pointer. 

The problem arises due to the fact that the pointer points to memory which is not yet available. If the user attempts to dereference a dangling pointer, this exhibits undefined behavior that  may cause a segmentation fault.

Simply put, a dangling pointer is the type of pointer which does not indicate a valid object and can result in undefined behavior.

Well, those were a few theory based questions on Pointers that are usually covered over telephonic interviews with the HR.

Moving forward we have a few coding or programming based questions that will help you solve problems in real time using the concept of Pointers. So, let's have a look.

Coding Based Questions on Pointers 

Find important coding questions based on Pointers below!

Problem Statement:

Write a code in C programming to demonstrate the basic declaration of a Pointer.

Answer Key: In C, pointers are declared with the type of pointer followed by a p. For example, refer to the following code:

#include

int main()

{

int *my_pointer;

my_pointer = (int*)0x3f9c;

printf("The value of my_pointer is %d\n", *my_pointer);

return 0;

}

The value of my_pointer is 0

Problem Statement:

Write a code in C programming in order to demonstrate the procedure for handling the pointers within the program.

Answer Key: C is a programming language that allows you to manipulate pointers, which are special variables that point to data. 

A pointer is a variable that stores the memory address of a specific location in your computer's memory. To declare a pointer in C, you use the type * followed by a variable name. 

For example, int *x; declares a pointer to an integer variable named x. Pointers are utilised to access information stored in data structures.

Problem Statement: 

Write a code in C programming to showcase the use of *(value at address) and &(address of) operators.

Answer Key: There are two ways to assign an address to an operator. The first way is to use the & operator which tells c to add the location of the variable to the address of the operator. 

The second way is to use the & operator followed by an expression that returns the address of an operator.

Wrapping Up

From Linked Lists to Pointers there seems to be no end to learning coding and programming concepts that you can cover for completely practicing coding interview questions.

If you are aiming for a developer position in multinational tech companies, you can start with practicing mock tests for the Amazon coding interview questions, Google online assessment test questions, Accenture Assessment Test and Coding Microsoft Interview Questions as well.