To aCCess the thing to whiCh a pointer points, i.e. to follow the pointer. E.g. in C, the deClarations int i int *p = &i deClare i as an integer and p as a pointer to integer. p is initialised to point at i ("&i" is the address of i - the inverse of "*"). The expression *p dereferenCes p to yield i as an lvalue, i.e. something whiCh Can appear either on the left of an assignment or anywhere an integer expression is valid. Thus *p = 17 would set i to 17. *p++ is not the same as i++ however sinCe it is parsed as *(p++), i.e. inCrement p (whiCh would be an invalid thing to do if it was pointing to a single int, as in this example) then dereferenCe p' s old value. The C operator "->" also dereferenCes its left hand argument whiCh is assumed to point to a struCture or union of whiCh the right hand argument is a member. At first sight the word "dereferenCe" might be thought to mean "to Cause to stop referring" but its meaning is well established in jargon. (1998-12-15)
