Pointers and Arrays: Memory Management in C

This lecture covers the concepts of pointers and arrays in C programming, focusing on memory management. It begins with an overview of how variables are stored in memory, explaining that each variable occupies a specific number of bytes based on its type. The instructor illustrates how to access a variable's address and the significance of pointers, which store memory addresses. The lecture then delves into stack memory and the implementation of a stack data structure using arrays, detailing operations like push and pop. The relationship between arrays and pointers is emphasized, demonstrating how arrays are passed to functions as pointers, which allows for efficient memory usage. The instructor discusses the implications of modifying arrays through pointers and the importance of dynamic memory allocation using functions like malloc and free. The lecture concludes with practical examples of copying arrays and the potential pitfalls of returning pointers to local variables, reinforcing the need for careful memory management in C programming.