How does Dart manage references without using traditional pointers?

In Dart, there are no traditional pointers like in C or C++. Instead, the language uses references to objects, which are managed automatically through a garbage collector system.

When you create an object, a variable holds a reference to that object in memory, but this reference is not an address pointer with arithmetic capabilities — it is abstracted and safe. The garbage collector tracks which objects are accessible via references and automatically frees memory when objects become unreachable.

Example:

class Person {
  String name;
  Person(this.name);
}

void main() {
  var p1 = Person('Alice'); // p1 holds a reference to a Person object
  var p2 = p1; // p2 now references the same object
  p1 = null; // the object is still accessible via p2
  // When neither p1 nor p2 references the object, the garbage collector will free the memory
}