In C, if I cast & dereference a pointer, does it matter which one I do first?

Question

In C, you can cast both simple data types like int, float, and pointers to these.

Now I would have assumed that if you want to convert from

Answer 1

Cast, then dereference means "pretend I am pointing to this other thing, and then get the other thing that is supposedly being pointed at".

Dereference, then cast means "get the thing I am actually pointing at, and then convert it to this other thing by the usual rules".

"The usual rules" can change the bits around in order to get a value of another type that logically represents the same value. Pretending you're pointing at something you're not actually pointing at cannot.