what is a (void *) parameter

Question

I've recently seen a delegate method (that appears to work) and looks like this:

-(void) doSomethingWithThisPieceOfData:(void *)theData;

The delegate method then casts theData as:

-(void) doSomethingWithThisPieceOfData:(void *)theData { anObject *myObject; myObject = (anObject)theData; .... }

Why does this work and is it good coding practice? I would have used (id *)theData instead.

thanks.

Answer 1

void * as a type indicates that any pointer can be passed, and that the code that recieves it will cast it to whatever type it considers appropriate.