13. C/C++ memory access, cont.

• Specifying the data type was not a requirement on PDP-7, because PDP-7 supported only one uniform data type, an 18-bit integer:

  
      MEMORY[ location ] = x;  // save data in physical memory
      x = MEMORY[ location ];  // load data from physical memory
  
  

• Later computer models begin to support data types of different sizes. Since then, the compiler requires an indication of the data type:

  
      MEMORY[ (char*)   location ] // access character in memory
      MEMORY[ (int*)    location ] // access integer in memory
      MEMORY[ (float*)  location ] // access float in memory
      MEMORY[ (double*) location ] // access double in memory
      MEMORY[ (bool*)   location ] // access boolean in memory