title: Meaning of this pointer type-casting notation
body: <p>I have seen this type of declaration many times and have no idea what it's doing:</p>
  
  <pre><code>*(type*)$var
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>for example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>*(char *)&amp;myChar
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>If the address of <code>myChar</code> is being retrieved and it is casted to <code>char</code> pointer then why the extra pointer outside and why is the address which is possibly an int or hex value being casted as a pointer? This makes no sense to me. I am a beginner so please, step by step explain what is going on here and why use this confusing format for type casting. Thank you.</p>