'class' keyword in variable definition in C++

Question

Before anyone asks, yes, this is part of a homework, and yes, I did a lot of Googling before asking. I spent the last hour searching intensively on Google with many, many different keywords, but just could not find anything.

So here goes the question :

What does the following variable definition mean: class MyClass* myClass;?

I tried that code with something like class MyClass* myClass = new MyClass(); and found that it simply creates a pointer to a new instance of MyClass.

So, what's the advantage of using the class prefix? Does it make any difference?

Does someone have a link to some resources about it? I simply could not find anything (it's really, really hard to find things other than "class definition"!).

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

An elaborated type specifier is a type name preceded by either the class, struct, enum, or union keyword.

class identifier 
struct identifier 
enum identifier 
union identifier

An elaborated type specifier is used either for emphasis, or to reveal a type name that is hidden by the declaration of a variable with the same name in the same scope.

source

Answer 2

Actually it is optional to use class while creating object of class. In C language it is compulsory to use struct in front of struct name to create its variable. As C++ is superset of C. There is only one difference between struct and class in C++, and that is of access modifier.

To keep backward compatible it is permissible.

So,

class MyClass* myClass = new MyClass();

And,

MyClass* myClass = new MyClass();

Both are same.