[1] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

dereference
     
         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
     
     
see also:
c lvalue assignment structure union member 

Dereference >> D Words
Dereference, definition of term: Dereference
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