What is the point of MyType(myVar) declaration in C++?

Question

In c++11 standard we can declare variable in an unusual way. We can declare myVar as int(myVar); instead of int myVar. What is the point of this?

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    int(myVar);
    myVar = 1000;
    cout << myVar << endl;
    return 0;
}

UPD Actually there is a certain reason why I asked this. What looked innocent just stopped to compile when we tried to port some code from MSVC C++03 to GCC C++11. Here is an example

    #include <iostream>
    using namespace std;

    struct MyAssert
    {
        MyAssert(bool)
        {
        }
    };

    #define ASSERT(cond) MyAssert(cond)

    void func(void* ptr)
    {
        ASSERT(ptr); // error: declaration of ‘MyAssert ptr’
                    // shadows a parameter #define ASSERT(cond) MyAssert(cond)
    }

    int main()
    {
        func(nullptr);
        return 0;
    }

Answer 1

Sure. I can even do this:

int (main)()
{
}

Parentheses serve to group things in C and C++. They often do not carry additional meaning beyond grouping. Function calls/declarations/definitions are a bit special, but if you need convincing that we should not be allowed to omit them there, just look at Ruby, where parentheses are optional in function calls.

There is not necessarily a point to it. But sometimes being able to slap on some theoretically unnecessary parentheses helps make code easier to read. Not in your particular example, and not in mine, of course.

Answer 2

#include <typeinfo>
#include <iostream>

int     main(void)
{
  int   *first_var[2];
  int   (*second_var)[2];

  std::cout << typeid(first_var).name() << std::endl;
  std::cout << typeid(second_var).name() << std::endl;

  return 0;
}

Running this on my machine gives :

A2_Pi
PA2_i

The parenthesis in the declaration mostly serve the same purpose they do everywhere, group things that should be together regardless of the default priority order of the language. Of course parenthesis with only one element inside is equivalent to just typing that element except in cases where parenthesis are mandatory (e.g function calls).