Scalar primitive fields in proto1/proto2 C++ generated code are not pointers. They are just class member fields returned by accessors (foo()) and their presenc

Scalar primitive fields in proto1/proto2 C++ generated code are not pointers. They are just class member fields returned by accessors (foo()) and their presence is indicated by a presence vector (has_foo()). At least that's what you get if you use Google's proto compiler. The class layout for proto3 is the same (surprise!) but the presence vector is ignored.