a pointer question

[ozair]

take a look at this program

int main()
{
int i, *pi;
float f, *pf;

i=1024;
pi=&i;

f=1024;
pf=&f;

cout << i << " " << f << endl;

pf=(float*)pi;

f=*pf;

cout << i << " " << f << endl;

return 0;
}

Output is

1024 1024
1024 -1.44e14(some junk value)

Can someone explain to me that why is there a junk value in 'f' after again being assigned by pointer 'pf'? and what is assigned to the pointer 'pf' by 'pi'?

[guestgulkan]

Because integers and floats are stored in completely different formats.
Taking the address of an integer and pretending that a floating point number is strored there
(which is really what this cast pf=(float*)pi; is doing), and trying to print is as a float
will obviously produce rubbish.