Then again, at least in C, the mantra is "declaration follows usage". Surely you don't write pointer dereferences as * ptr
? Most likely not, you most likely write it as *ptr
. The idea behind the int *ptr;
syntax is basically that when you do *ptr
, you get an int
.
And with this idea, stuff like function pointers (int (*f)(void)
), arrays of pointers (int *a[10]
) versus pointers of arrays (int (*a)[10]
) etc. start making sense. It's certainly not the best way to design the syntax, and I'm as much a fan of the Pascal-styled "type follows the identifier" syntax (e.g. let x: number;
) as anyone, but the C way does have a rhyme and a reason for the way it is.
This actually is a Venn diagram, which already puts it above so many similar things used both on-line and off-line. It's not just an Euler diagram masquerading as a Venn diagram.