Dereferencing
Dereferencing is the operation of following a pointer or reference to access the object or value it designates.
Refactoring to Rust
A pointer dereference is an operation that accesses the value stored at the memory address represented by a pointer.
- How it is used
- Enables reading buffer elements and writing results through raw pointers at a Rust–C boundary.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the operation and works through pointer arithmetic, unsafe blocks, and null checks; it does not establish that a null check proves validity.
- Examples
- Uses a byte vector read by offset and a C calculator whose Rust function writes through a solution out parameter.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Rust raw pointers to read a bounded buffer and write a C out parameter while checking for null.
Rust in Action: Systems programming concepts and techniques
Dereferencing is the operation of accessing the value designated by a pointer or reference.
- How it is used
- Uses dereferencing to retrieve values through references, then to expose unsafe raw-pointer memory access.
- How deep it goes
- Explains address-based references and unary syntax, then demonstrates NULL-pointer and segmentation-fault failures.
- Examples
- Uses a large-array reference, an integer-array search, raw memory scans, and printed variable addresses.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Rust syntax to read values through references and diagnose why invalid raw-pointer dereferences crash.
Read how Rust in Action: Systems programming concepts and techniques explains dereferencing →
Building User-Friendly DSLs
Obtaining the target object of a relation by following a direct object reference.
- How it is used
- Uses direct references to navigate relationships between AST objects during normal interactions.
- How deep it goes
- Defines direct dereferencing and contrasts it with ID resolution, deferring actual IDs until JSON serialization.
- Examples
- Demonstrates an attribute reference from rentalPriceAfterDiscountInitialValue to rentalPriceBeforeDiscountAttribute.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via JavaScript object references to obtain related AST objects without performing ID lookups.
Read how Building User-Friendly DSLs explains dereferencing →
Related concepts
- dotted notationimplemented by · Dotted notation is syntax that uses periods to access or invoke members, qualify names, or represent hierarchical paths.
- unsafe blockuses · An unsafe block is a Rust code region that permits operations whose safety requirements the compiler cannot verify and whose correctness requires programmer responsibility.
- mutable referenceuses · A mutable reference is a reference or handle through which the referenced value or storage location may be modified, subject to language-specific access rules.
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