What is the difference between pointers and reference variables in Java?

My java book explains that to use objects, we can assign them to reference variables How is it different from a pointer to an object? Does java have pointers?

Thank you:)

Solution

A reference is something like a pointer. You can't perform arithmetic on... Although it's more opaque Although the bottom bits may be addresses in virtual memory, they are not necessarily They are just a way to get objects (or represent null values) So when they're not exactly the same, if you're used to seeing a pointer as a way to "identify an object or navigate to it" (in a sense), yes, these ideas also apply to references

Java does not have such pointers (unlike C #, which has references and pointers - the latter is used in "unsafe" code)