In
computer programming,
indirection is the ability to reference something using a name, reference, or container instead of the value itself. The most common form of indirection is the act of manipulating a value through its
memory address. For example, accessing a
variable through the use of a
pointer. A stored pointer that exists to provide a reference to an object by double indirection is called an
indirection node. In some older computer architectures, indirect words supported a variety of more-or-less complicated
addressing modes.