Talk Description: A brief introduction to the concepts underlying memory management and pointer operations in languages like C, C++, and Rust. (Examples will be given in C.) We'll discuss: When and why to use direct memory management, how programs address memory, the how, what, and why of pointers usage, basic pointer arithmetic, memory allocation and garbage collection, and some real-world-ish examples of simple data structures implemented with pointers, like basic arrays and linked lists. No prior experience with C or similar is required, but this talk is designed for people who are already fluent in at least one programming language and already understand basic data structures and related computer science concepts.

Speaker Bio: Maxwell Zimon has been writing software since he was little and had a bowl cut. Right now, he's a senior software engineer working on restaurant technologies at Olo; before that, he wrote music composition and publishing software for Musicnotes. His professional interests include improving the tech hiring process, learning about the .NET CLR, and birds. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his partner and two very important cats.

Additional Resources: https://www.notion.so/srnd/A-Gentle-Introduction-to-Pointers-and-Unmanaged-Code-2facb1307b4b4654ac8f0942e4130d13