title: Pointer dereference operator ( (*) vs -> )
body: <p>Is there a general difference between doing </p>
  
  <pre><code>(*ptr).method()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>vs</p>
  
  <pre><code>ptr-&gt;method()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I saw this question in a comment on another question and thought I would ask it here. Although I just remembered that pretty much every operator in C++ can be overloaded, so I guess the answer will depend. But in general, is there a difference between doing one versus the other?</p>