Except when 0xDEADBEEF happens to be the memory address overlaying the custom hardware registers, and setting it to 0x42 turns the blinky light on. There are s

Except when 0xDEADBEEF happens to be the memory address overlaying the custom hardware registers, and setting it to 0x42 turns the blinky light on. There are some cases where manipulating static memory locations is not only a good thing, but the only way to do something (at least for embedded programming). Not saying that your point is invalid, btw.