Where is the asterisk?

I was interested in one question. Where better to put the * when declaring a pointer to an object: class name or variable name?

The question is purely "philosophical". The most obvious answer is whatever you like. I asked around my colleagues I found out I put one * class name.

Decided to look into this matter. Turned to the original source (Bjarne Stroustrup. The C programming language).

char * p; // pointer to symbol


That is generally a third option.


So decided to look in the standard. About signs not specifically found was a piece of code where they are declared:

Tmp* p = new Tmp(a[i]*b[i]);


Before asking your opinion, I will Express their views and reflections. Everything that will be written next is just my opinion.

The first variant Type* obj


I myself use this, but I started to use it even before thinking about the meaning of at *. In this case the variable is considered as a variable of type "pointer to object type". Therefore a pointer is a separate type.

The second variant Type *obj


Well it's simple, it's just a pointer, that is, the number with the address where you can find the object of type type.


Actually a question: How do you declare pointers and is there a meaning or is it just a matter of habit?