What exactly is an 'aligned pointer'?

Question

Would somebody please tell me what an aligned pointer actually means?

Answer 1

It is a pointer to an "aligned" address. Aligned in the sense that the address is a multiple of some value - typically, the sizeof whatever type of thing it will be pointing at (if a primitive type), or of some data member which requires such alignment.

Usually you do not have to worry about this; memory allocation functions will ensure that the memory they give you is properly aligned. You start worrying about alignment at the point where you start doing unsafe things with pointer casts.