Why does C have a distinction between -> and .?

Question

OK, this is of no serious consequence, but it\'s been bugging me for a while: Is there a reason for the distinction between the -> and . operato

Answer 1

A distinguishing feature of the C programming language (as opposed to its relative C++) is that the cost model is very explicit. The dot is distinguished from the arrow because the arrow requires an additional memory reference, and C is very careful to make the number of memory references evident from the source code.