Usage of NULL

I read an argument recently about whether a test for NULL should be:

if (ptr)

- or -

if (ptr != NULL)

Do you know that the assembly for these two sequences is the same? So the first has not optimized the running time of the program. But it does save 8 characters, which mattered long ago. But now we have plenty of disk space. So always write the test for NULL by actually testing against NULL. Or I'll come take off style points the next time I'm grading. (If you are writing one-use code, which no one will see then go ahead.)

Separately, the operating system provides explicit support for NULL. It sets up every process's virtual memory so that virtual addresses 0x0 - 0x3ff (and possibly more) have no mapping so any access to NULL will never be valid.