It is, for all practical purposes, a flat space in the sense that for bare pointers, operator++ is defined (increments to the next whatever, defined based on ty

It is, for all practical purposes, a flat space in the sense that for bare pointers, operator++ is defined (increments to the next whatever, defined based on type of pointer). There is no operator++ equivalent in Java to apply to object references (unless you go unsafe); you can't immediately shoot yourself in the foot without the compiler noticing by asking for "the next object after this one" when no such thing exists. (handwave a bit: of course, you can ask for an object past the last object in any container. That's (a) not the same thing and (b) results in an immediate runtime error in Java, instead of undefined behavior)