I check pointer only when 100% sure that it may be invalid and I know what to do when it is invalid. The reason for that is when you assume that this particular pointer should be valid, but it is not, then you have a problem somewhere else. It is easier to look at crash place than manually stepping with debugger through hundreds of “if(myPointer){}” to find which one is zero. That tactic saved me a ton of time figuring out why some part of my code isn’t working as I think it should.