Making sense of pointer assignment in C

[ornate vale]

Hello guys, consider the following code:

#include <stdio.h>

// Declare the function to swap two numbers
void swapping(int *num1, int *num2);

int main(void) {
    int num1, num2;

    // Get input from the user
    printf("Enter num 1: \n");
    scanf("%d", &num1);
    printf("Enter num 2: \n");
    scanf("%d", &num2);

    // Call swapping function
    swapping(&num1, &num2);

    // Print the swapped values
    printf("After swapping: num1 = %d, num2 = %d\n", num1, num2);

    return 0;
}

// Define the swapping function
void swapping(int *num1, int *num2) {
    int temp = *num1;
    *num1 = *num2;
    *num2 = temp;
}

consider this assignment :

*num1 = *num2

like here if num1 is pointing to memory address at 0x100 holding value 10 and pointer of num2 is pointing a memory address of 0x200 holding 20, this would mean 10 = 20

This doesn't make sense, right ? How should I interpret this statement then? Well, the thing is how can we think if it like a normal statement where we have something like "x = 35" for e.g

[dire pulsar]

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[west sierra]

it matters to the language what side of the = sign a thing is on. because assignment always goes x <- y (to borrow R's syntax), that means that in the case of *num1 = *num2, *num1 = 20 is equivalent code (assuming *num2 contains 20). on the right side of the = sign, all variables collapse into the thing contained inside them; on the left, no collapsing is done, it just contains the result of whatever is on the right

also, *foo always means the same thing to me, at least conceptually: you're telling the compiler that you want foo to be interpreted as a pointer. in a declaration (int *foo;), you're declaring it so; in normal use, it's more like "try to make it so"

[lament kiln]

You passed the addresses of two int to the function. So num1 & num2 inside the function mean pointers that store some address. But *num1 helps u to get to what's stored there. Hope u hot it

[ornate vale]

yep I see, ty

[dire pulsar]

@ornate vale Has your question been resolved? If so, type !solved :)

[ornate vale]

!solved