C++ note: pointer and reference

The semantics of the * operator is to get the value from a pointer. When it is used as a reference, *p converts the pointer to the reference of the object it points to. This is illustrated with the following example.

void reference( int &i ) { i = 4; }

void testReference() {
   int i=5;
   int *p = &i;
   reference( *p );
   cout < < i << endl;
}

As can be seen from the output (4), the i in the testReference method is actually modified. This shows the semantics of the * operator, when used as a reference.