[notacoward]

While I generally think typedefs for integer/enumerated types and structs/unions are a good idea, I also don't think the arguments I've made apply as much to typedefs for pointers. The difference between an X and a pointer/reference to X is often an explicit part of the contract between modules or functions. If that contract ever changes, the declarations and usage should change in ways beyond replacement of an identifier. That's different than if X itself changes, which usually can and should be transparent. You also get the same type checking for an "X pointer" declaration (avoiding star because of HN mis-formatting issues) as for its "X_ptr" equivalent. Even compilers will flag "pointer to wrong type" errors, even as they remain oblivious to many "wrong integer type" errors. In short, "X_ptr" typedefs don't help anywhere that "X" typedefs don't already.

I'm not going to argue against pointer typedefs, though I personally don't use them. I'm just saying that I can't make a strong argument for them as I believe I can for other cases.