dereference a pointer -vs- &-operator

Question

Would these two assignments be equivalent, i.e. perfom exactly the same thing?

*pointer = object

pointer = &object

, where pointer is a pointer to an "object-instance".

Or does this only make sense for primitive types.

Answer 1

No, these are not the same.

pointer = &object sets pointer so that it points at object.

*pointer = object sets the value of thing being pointed to by pointer to be equal to the value of object.

Answer 2

Absolutely not.

*pointer = object

changes the memory the pointer points to.

pointer = &object

changes the pointer.

pointer   ---->    object1
&object   ---->    object

In the first case, this becomes:

pointer   ---->    object
&object   ---->    object   

In the second case:

                  ---->    object1 //could turn into a memory leak
&object, pointer  ---->    object