Pointers in c#

Question

Why would c# have pointers if they are NOT safe to use?? Its like having a car but not drive it because you got no driver licence or smth...

Answer 1

A sharp knife is unsafe for a toddler, but absolutely necessary for a professional butcher.

Pointers cut away the fat of high-level languages and get right to the meat and bone.

Answer 2

you can use unsafe code.

you just have to make sure you have no memory leaks or security risks.

pointers are are inherently unsafe.

unlike C or C++, C# decided it's a good idea to have a mechanism to keep reminding people of that. you have to declare the part where you're using it as unsafe. Like warning signs in a minefield.

if you think using unsafe can give you the extra performance and you have the skill to do it properly, go ahead and use unsafe.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/unsafe-code

Answer 3

They r only unsafe if u dont know what u are doing

Answer 4

Aleksei Radchenkov
true.
but people often mess up.

having the unsafe keyword is a good idea.

it's like a safety lever in a gun. it makes using pointers an intentional decision, and serves as a warning flag for others that might be modifying your code.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/keywords/unsafe