What is the purpose of the head pointer?

• A. Points to the last node.
• B. Points to the first node.
• C. Points to the middle node.
• D. Points to a sentinel end.

Answer: (B)

In a linked list, the head pointer serves as the entry point to the structure. It points to the first node so that traversal can start at the very beginning and proceed through each node in order by following the next references. This starting point is what makes operations like printing the list, searching, or inserting at the front straightforward.

If the head pointed to the last node, you’d lose easy access to the earlier nodes with a simple forward traversal since there are no backward links. If head pointed to a middle node, you’d miss the nodes before it unless you kept extra references. Pointing to a sentinel end (null) would mean the list is empty. Therefore, the head pointer is intended to point to the first node.