I am a PHP programmer trying to learn more of the theory behind PHP, but having trouble connecting the dots between PHP and C. For example, is the arrow operator exactly the same in PHP and C?

Here's what I came up when I researched it:

* In C, **`->` is just an alias**, `a->b` is the same as `(*a).b`. The arrow operator is just dereferencing a pointer so you interact with the address variable.
* In PHP, **`->` is a reference**. It "references the attributes of an instantiated object" (Unknown). But is that the same thing as C?

Note: Today, I learned what pointers are in C.