Understanding Pointers for Reverse Engineers Part 1 - Pointer Basics (Patreon)

This is the first in a short three-part series on pointers; how they work in memory, and what they look like in assembly. In this tutorial we look at the basics, what is a pointer, how is a pointer assigned, and what is dereferencing.

Further Reading

The following resources may be of interest.

• Load Effective Address Instruction (ASM Manual) 
• Size Directives explained (ptr dword) 
• Free Full Course on C++ Pointers (free code camp) 
• Multi Level Pointers -- useful for in-memory game hacking (GuidedHacking) 

Hands On Example

Attached to this post is the compiled example we analyzed in the tutorial. You are encouraged to analyze the binary in the disassemble of your choice and identify how the pointer is assigned. 

Debugging the example is also encouraged!