From: david.brown@hesbynett.no   
      
   On 06/01/2026 13:32, Michael Sanders wrote:   
   > On Mon, 5 Jan 2026 08:39:53 -0000 (UTC), Michael Sanders wrote:   
   >   
   >> I might have questions down the road...   
   >   
   > One more question, but 1st the context...   
   >   
   > I asked ChatGPT this question:   
   >   
   >      In C, what is the most common meaning of (void) *foo   
   >   
   > Its reply:   
   >   
   >      In C, (void) *foo most commonly means:   
   >   
   >      “Evaluate *foo, but explicitly discard its value.”   
   >   
   >      It is a cast-to-void used to silence warnings about an   
   >      unused expression or unused result.   
   >   
   > My question: Why?   
   >   
      
   It is not uncommon for people to have "-Wunused" warnings enabled in   
   their builds.  If you have declared variables in a function, and   
   possibly assigned values to them, but don't read them or use them,   
   that's likely a mistake in your code.  The compiler can eliminate the   
   unused variables and associated calculations, but a warning can remind   
   you that your function is perhaps not finished yet.  Similarly, warnings   
   on unused parameters can be helpful if you have forgotten something.   
      
   But sometimes you know you don't need the variables or parameters, but   
   you might still want to have the declarations there.  Maybe they are   
   used with some builds with different conditional compilation, or you   
   know you might need them later.  Maybe you have extra parameters because   
   the function has to fit a particular set of parameter types, even though   
   in some cases you don't need them all.  (In C23, you can leave a   
   parameter unnamed in the definition - but not prior to C23.)   
      
   As a way to silence such warnings - or as an indication to human readers   
   that you know you don't need the value - you can cast the value to void.   
      
   It can also be used for discarding values from a function return marked   
   "[[nodiscard]]" in C23 (or using equivalent compiler-specific features   
   prior to C23), or after reading a volatile variable when you want the   
   read to be done, but don't care about the value.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)