Handle & pointer

What is the difference between a handle and a pointer ?

Thanks in advance.

[Martin Speiser]

A handle is a unique number, whereas a pointer points to a memory location. In some cases it's the same. For instance a HWND is a unique number for an application, but for the system it's a pointer to a memory block.


Martin

A HANDLE is an index to an internal table that the operating system maintains for all executive objects. It is in that table
that the OS can look up information about the object in question.

A pointer just "points" to a raw block of memory.

Dan