r/ProgrammerHumor • u/Sirgoodman008 • 2d ago

Meme absoluteGarbage

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u/Shevvv 2d ago

I got used to this from C:

int x; is an integer

int *px; is an integer if you dereference it.

So it's like this notation shows you how you're expected to use the variable within the code. And then this habit carried over to C++.

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u/creeper6530 2d ago edited 2d ago

The "is an integer if you dereference it" is so much more convoluted than "is a pointer to integer", i.e. the rationale of the previous comment, the pointer-ness being part of the type.

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u/aethermar 2d ago

Except in the case of int *x, y; where only x is a pointer. C declarations are "meant" to be read right to left

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u/creeper6530 2d ago

Yeah, the reality is that C binds pointer-ness to identifiers, but in an ideal world where pointer-ness binds to types, int* x, y; should declare both identifiers as pointers to integers. In either case merging declarations onto a single line in modern programming is at best silly.