Difference between static_cast and (char*)

Question

this is my first question :)

I have one pile file, and I have open it like shown below ;

ifstream in ( filename,  ios :: binary | ios :: in ) 
         


        

Answer 1

static_cast is a safer cast than the implicit C style cast. If you try to cast an entity which is not compatible to another, then static_cast gives you an compilation time error unlike the implicit c-style cast.

static_cast gives you an error here because what you are trying to say is take an int and try to fit it in a char, which is not possible. int needs more memory than what char occupies and the conversion cannot be done in a safe manner.

If you still want to acheive this,You can use reinterpret_cast, It allows you to typecast two completely different data types, but it is not safe.
The only guarantee you get with reinterpret_cast is that if you cast the result back to the original type, you will get the same value, But no other safety guarantees.