This isn't a question but just something I find useful and hopefully others might also find useful, to get my head around the different uses of the * operator in pointer syntax.

While it seems like the expression *p can take on a few different meanings depending on context, it can pretty consistently be read as "the value of p". I'll illustrate with some examples (compared against regular/non-pointer equivalents):

int x;  // define x to be an int
int *p; // define the value of p to be an int

x = 5;  // set x to 5
*p = 5; // set the value of p to 5

int y;
y = x;  // set y to x
y = *p; // set y to the value of p

It even works for functions, kinda:

int foo()  // the thing foo returns will be an int
{
    ...
}

int *foo() // the value of the thing foo returns will be an int
{
    ...
}

It's not perfect obviously, but it's maybe a useful fallback and preferable to trying to remember how each of the contexts work independently.