dereference

Etymology

de- + reference

verb

1. (programming) To access the value or object located in a memory location stored in a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being referenced by something else.
   Attempting to dereference a null pointer often results in a crash.
2. (computing, in operating systems derived from Unix) To operate on the file or directory pointed to by a symbolic link, rather than on the link itself.
   With the find command, any symbolic links appearing after -follow will be dereferenced.

noun

1. The act by which something is dereferenced.
   Either each dereference must use a complicated DCAS protocol, or each pointer must include a version number that is managed on each modification and checked on each dereference, or storage management must be tightly coupled […] 1999, Michael Barry Greenwald, Non-blocking synchronization and system design, page 77