[cs13001] Another question in pointers.

[Mikhail Nesterenko]

> 
> I was wondering, what's the difference between:
> 
> p1 = new int;    

this line dynamically allocates a memory location that holds an
integer variable and assigns the address of this memory location to "p1"


> and *p1 = new int;     Is the second one even possible?

this line also dynamically allocates an integer memory location but
assigns its address to wherever "p1" points to (p1 is
derefernced). For this line to compile, the type of "p1" should be a
pointer to a pointer to an integer.

For example:

int **p1, *p2;

p1 = &p2;      // p1 points to p2
*p1 = new int; // makes p2 point to the newly allocated integer


Thanks,
--
Mikhail