Editing Pointer swizzling (section)

{{Short description|Computer science term}}
{{No footnotes|date=May 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021|cs1-dates=y}}
In [[computer science]], '''pointer swizzling''' is the conversion of references based on name or [[offset (computer science)|position]] into direct [[pointer (computer programming)|pointer]] references ([[memory address]]es). It is typically performed during [[deserialization]] or [[loader (computing)|loading]] of a relocatable object from a disk file, such as an [[executable file]] or pointer-based [[data structure]].

The reverse operation, replacing memory pointers with position-independent symbols or positions, is sometimes referred to as '''unswizzling''', and is performed during [[serialization]] (saving). Alternatively, both operations can also be referred to as swizzling.