Michael,

Sounds like you've already got your answer, but another case I've seen hardcoded memory locations used in a 'C' program is when the data in that location needs to be accessed by another program which is compiled independently of the 'C' program you are studying. For example a fairly large system that supports upgradeable firmware that is downloaded over an I/O (parallel, serial, USB, etc.) may actually send the flash programming routine as the first part of the download. I've seen cases like that where developer of the main code & the developer of the flash programming utility which will be downloaded into RAM agree on a fixed location for a "mailbox" (among other things).

Jeff