One other difference on modern compilers relating specifically to character arrays: This will work fine: char arr[] = "stuff"; printf("arr:%s\n", arr

One other difference on modern compilers relating specifically to character arrays: This will work fine: char arr[] = "stuff"; printf("arr:%s\n", arr); arr[0] = 'b'; arr[1] = 'l'; printf("arr:%s\n", arr); arr is allocated on the stack (not heap, sorry about the mistake) and is mutable. But the following will segfault: char* ptr = "stuff"; printf("ptr:%s\n", ptr); ptr[0] = 'b'; ptr[1] = '1'; printf("ptr:%s\n", ptr); Strings are allocated in the read-only data segment. Technically you can only write const char* ptr = "stuff", but due to wanting to remain backward compatibile, gcc will let you write the above and not even warn you unless you use -Wall or similar.