Re: why use -> (not .) with pointers?

In article <1120137370.348589.90000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Suman <skarpio@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>-> is used when you have a pointer to a struct, and you are trying to
>access elements of the struct whose address is stored in the pointer.
>
>. is used when you have an object of a struct, and you are trying to
>access elements of the struct.

I think the original poster knows that. Since there is no context
where both a.b and a->b are legal, he is asking why C doesn't use the
same syntax for both.

I think the answer is just that they are different operations so C has
different names for them. a->b is equivalent to (*a).b. A less
explicit language than C might confound these, but C doesn't.

-- Richard

.

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