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    $\begingroup$ Hard to remember back this far, but the malloc example is useful even if you skip over the work underneath. It exposes the machinery inside the black box just enough. $\endgroup$ Commented May 27, 2017 at 10:19
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    $\begingroup$ Is this an AP CS class, or something where you have more free reign in the curriculum? And what is the general language of the course? $\endgroup$ Commented May 27, 2017 at 10:34
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, AP CS Principles, more specifically CS50 AP. The curriculum includes pointers in an optional unit, but my gut says to include it regardless. We spend about a week in Scratch for general programming concepts and then focus on C for the rest of the semester before also going over basic Python the second semester. $\endgroup$ Commented May 27, 2017 at 18:30
  • $\begingroup$ Note: sizeof(myarray) gives the size of your array, (if I remember correctly) in bytes. Where as sizeof(mypointer) gives the size of a pointer (4 or 8, depending or architecture). Also arrays can-not be passed to another routine, only a pointer is passed. $\endgroup$ Commented May 28, 2017 at 9:19
  • $\begingroup$ I agree with @Sasha that 0-based arrays are a little strange but pointers are much much more difficult. Better to not confuse things by combining the two until both concepts are consolidated in students' minds. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 18:52