Official names for pointer operators
- by FredOverflow
What are the official names for the operators * and & in the context of pointers? They seem to be frequently called dereference operator and address-of operator respectively, but unfortunately, the section on unary operators in the standard does not name them.
I really don't want to name & address-of anymore, because & returns a pointer, not an address. (A pointer is a language mechanism, while an address is an implementation detail. Addresses are untyped, while pointers aren't, except for void*.) The standard is very clear about this:
The result of the unary & operator is a pointer to its operand.
Symmetry suggests to name & reference operator which is a little unfortunate because of the collision with references in C++. The fact that & returns a pointer suggests pointer operator. Are there any official sources that would confirm these (or other) namings?
