Q: Given all the confusion surrounding null pointers, wouldn't it be easier simply to require them to be represented internally by zeroes?
A: Some implementations naturally represent null pointers by special, nonzero bit patterns, particularly when it can be arranged that inadvertently using those values triggers automatic hardware traps. Requiring null pointers to be represented internally as 0, and therefore disallowing use of the special, nonzero values, would be an unfortunate step backwards, because catching errors which result in invalid accesses is a Good Thing.
Besides, what would such a requirement really accomplish? Proper understanding of null pointers does not require knowledge of the internal representation, whether zero or nonzero. Assuming that null pointers are internally zero does not make any code easier to write (except for a certain ill-advised usage of calloc; see question 7.31). Known-zero internal pointers would not reduce the need for casts in function calls, because the size of the pointer might still be different from that of an int. (If ``nil'' were used to request null pointers, as mentioned in question 5.14, the urge to assume an internal zero representation would not even arise.)
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