Merge pull request #2751 from corob-msft/cr-2020-C6011

Fix 2020: unclear C6011 text

Author: PRMerger15

docs/code-quality/c6011.md

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 ---
 title: C6011
-ms.date: 11/04/2016
+description: "Reference for Visual Studio C++ code analysis warning C6011."
+ms.date: 03/23/2020
 ms.topic: reference
 f1_keywords: ["C6011"]
 helpviewer_keywords: ["C6011"]
@@ -10,11 +11,11 @@ ms.assetid: 54b7bc2b-b8f5-43fc-a9a3-8189b03f249a
 
 > warning C6011: dereferencing NULL pointer \<name>
 
-This warning indicates that a null pointer is being dereferenced. If the pointer value is invalid, the result is undefined.
+This warning indicates that your code dereferences a potentially null pointer. If the pointer value is invalid, the result is undefined. To resolve the issue, validate the pointer before use.
 
 ## Example
 
-The following code generates this warning because a call to malloc might return null if there is insufficient memory available:
+The following code generates this warning because a call to `malloc` might return null if insufficient memory is available:
 
 ```cpp
 #include <malloc.h>
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ void f( )
 }
 ```
 
-To correct this warning, examine the pointer for null value as shown in the following code:
+To correct this warning, examine the pointer for a null value as shown in the following code:
 
 ```cpp
 #include <malloc.h>
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ void f( )
 }
 ```
 
-You must allocate memory inside the function whose parameters are annotated by using the Null property in a Pre condition before dereferencing the parameter. The following code generates warning C6011 because an attempt is made to dereference a null pointer (`pc`) inside the function without first allocating memory:
+Functions may have parameters annotated by using the `Null` property in a `Pre` condition. Allocate memory inside these functions before you dereference the parameter. The following code generates warning C6011 because an attempt is made to dereference a null pointer (`pc`) inside the function without first allocating memory:
 
 ```cpp
 #include <sal.h>
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@ void f([Pre(Null=Yes)] char* pc)
 }
 ```
 
-The use of malloc and free have many pitfalls in terms of memory leaks and exceptions. To avoid these kinds of leaks and exception problems altogether, use the mechanisms that are provided by the C++ Standard Template Library (STL). These include [shared_ptr](/cpp/standard-library/shared-ptr-class), [unique_ptr](/cpp/standard-library/unique-ptr-class), and [vector](/cpp/standard-library/vector). For more information, see [Smart Pointers](/cpp/cpp/smart-pointers-modern-cpp) and [C++ Standard Library](/cpp/standard-library/cpp-standard-library-reference).
+The careless use of `malloc` and `free` leads to memory leaks and exceptions. To minimize these kinds of leaks and exception problems altogether, avoid allocating raw memory yourself. Instead, use the mechanisms provided by the C++ Standard Library (STL). These include [shared_ptr](/cpp/standard-library/shared-ptr-class), [unique_ptr](/cpp/standard-library/unique-ptr-class), and [vector](/cpp/standard-library/vector). For more information, see [Smart Pointers](/cpp/cpp/smart-pointers-modern-cpp) and [C++ Standard Library](/cpp/standard-library/cpp-standard-library-reference).
 
 ## See also