Raw Pointers in Swift
Swift is a powerful and modern programming language that offers developers a wide range of features and capabilities. One of the features that sets Swift apart from other languages is its ability to work with raw pointers. Raw pointers allow developers to interact with memory in a low-level way, which can be useful for certain types of programming tasks.
In this blog post, we will take a closer look at Swift raw pointers, including what they are, how to use them, and when it makes sense to use them.
What is Swift Raw Pointers?
In Swift, a pointer is a reference to a memory location. Pointers allow you to interact with memory directly, which can be useful when you need to perform low-level operations such as working with hardware or interacting with external libraries. Raw pointers are a specific type of pointer that allows you to work with memory in its raw form, without any type of information or safety checks.
Raw pointers in Swift are represented using the UnsafeMutableRawPointer and UnsafeRawPointer types. The UnsafeMutableRawPointer type represents a mutable pointer to a memory location, while the UnsafeRawPointer type represents an immutable pointer to a memory location. Both types are declared unsafe because they allow you to work with memory in a way that is not guaranteed to be safe.
