[Solved] Data type of addresses [closed]

Question

An address is simply an integer numeric value that refers to a memory location. The concept of a “type” is a language imposition – at the machine level addresses and data are all simply numeric (hence the term digital computers).

The width of an address in terms of the number of bits depends on the specific hardware architecture.

A pointer and an address are not necessarily the same thing – some architectures have paged or segmented memory addressing schemes that may mean the relationship is not that simple. 16-bit x86 for example has concepts of near and far pointers, and a segmented addressing scheme that allows for 16 or 32 bit pointers that can each resolve to a 20 bit physical address.

Accepted Answer

An address is simply an integer numeric value that refers to a memory location. The concept of a “type” is a language imposition – at the machine level addresses and data are all simply numeric (hence the term digital computers).

The width of an address in terms of the number of bits depends on the specific hardware architecture.

A pointer and an address are not necessarily the same thing – some architectures have paged or segmented memory addressing schemes that may mean the relationship is not that simple. 16-bit x86 for example has concepts of near and far pointers, and a segmented addressing scheme that allows for 16 or 32 bit pointers that can each resolve to a 20 bit physical address.