Cause of Wild Pointers
Wild pointers are created by omitting necessary initialization prior to first use. Thus, strictly speaking, every pointer in programming languages which do not enforce initialization begins as a wild pointer.
This most often occurs due to jumping over the initialization, not by omitting it. Most compilers are able to warn about this.
int f(int i) { char *dp; /* dp is a wild pointer */ static char *scp; /* scp is not a wild pointer: * static variables are initialized to 0 * at start and retain their values from * the last call afterwards. * Using this feature may be considered bad * style if not commented */ }Read more about this topic: Dangling Pointer
Famous quotes containing the word wild:
“Some spring the white man came, built him a house, and made a clearing here, letting in the sun, dried up a farm, piled up the old gray stones in fences, cut down the pines around his dwelling, planted orchard seeds brought from the old country, and persuaded the civil apple-tree to blossom next to the wild pine and the juniper, shedding its perfume in the wilderness. Their old stocks still remain.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)