When is a cast not a cast?

[Guy Harris]

>Does it bother you that when I add two character pointers, I get yet another
>character pointer?

It does if you can't specify fairly precisely to which "char" object the
new character points, given a specification of the "char" objects to
which the original ones pointed.

>Could it be that adding pointers creates different things, as multiplying
>lengths creates areas?  Maybe.

If that were true, it would *definitely* bother me that when you add two
character pointers, you get another character pointer; either adding
pointers creates different things or it doesn't.

*Seriously*, if you want the "bigbrain-hopefuls" to "think about (this
idea) a minute", you'll need to make it a bit more concrete, so that
they perceive the probability of the idea being an Exciting New Idea as
sufficiently higher than the probability of it being The Product Of
Confusion to make it worth their while to consider it.  (No, I can think
of few, if any, people who can pursue *every* idea that comes by, in the
hopes that it *might* be worth it.  Do you read *every* article in
*every* newsgroup on USENET?  Do you buy *every* newspaper, or magazine,
or book, you see on the newsstand and read it cover-to-cover?)