Why was UPhysicsHandleComponent set as a pointer?

[pjk1994]

I am new to Cpp and I was trying to think why UPhysicsHandleComponent was set as a pointer? And how would I know in general when should i initialize a component/or parameter as pointer? (Sorry if its a silly question). The unreal doc for this doesnt mention anything as such.

[DanM]

1. Everything derived from UObject needs to be dynamically allocated during runtime so they would always be pointers. Here’s an article on dynamic memory
   https://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutorial/dynamic-memory-allocation-with-new-and-delete/
   (You should not be doing this yourself in Unreal).
2. The instance of the physics handle is already created in BP you just want to point to that same instance. Without it being a pointer you would be storing a copy (also it wouldn’t compile due to 1, you can’t create UObjects on the stack).