Pointer Member Variable Initialization in C++ Classes

Question

This is going to sound so basic as to make one think I made zero effort to find the answer myself, but I swear I did search for about 20 minutes and found no answer.

Answer 1

the value of any uninitialized pointer is always garbage, it's some random memory address.

in your constructors, you can use initializer lists to initialize your pointer

simply

MyClass::MyClass() : myPointer(nullptr)
{
}

trying to reference an uninitialized pointer triggers undefined behavior. so ALWAYS initialize your pointer.