A good thought, but C’s syntax makes it a bit hairy to explicate that you’re using an integral value as a pointer: #include <stdint.h> #include <stdio.

A good thought, but C’s syntax makes it a bit hairy to explicate that you’re using an integral value as a pointer: #include <stdint.h> #include <stdio.h> struct big_data { int i; }; void f(intptr_t p) { printf("%d\n", ((struct big_data*)p)->i); } int main(int argc, char** argv) { struct big_data data = { 42 }; intptr_t p = &data; f(p); return 0; } So there’s no real pedagogical gain. If someone understands what “a pointer is just an integer” means, then they probably understand pointers already.