I need to port some code from FreePascal to C. I'm a professional C developer but know nothing of Pascal. Most of the code can be ported quite easily but one line is giving me a headache. What exactly is this supposed to do: <pre class="prettyprint"><code>New(newBack); curBackPtr^ := newBack; curBackPtr := @(newBack^.next); </code></pre> What is confusing me here is the fact that <code>newBack</code> is assigned to <code>curBackPtr</code> and right after that <code>newBack.next</code> is assigned to <code>curBackPtr</code> without <code>curBackPtr</code> ever being accessed. Isn't the first assignment superfluous then and can be safely removed? Or am I missing something here?

FreePascal beginners issue

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I need to port some code from FreePascal to C. I'm a professional C developer but know nothing of Pascal. Most of the code can be ported quite easily but one line is giving me a headache. What exactly is this supposed to do:

New(newBack); 
curBackPtr^ := newBack; 
curBackPtr := @(newBack^.next);

What is confusing me here is the fact that newBack is assigned to curBackPtr and right after that newBack.next is assigned to curBackPtr without curBackPtr ever being accessed. Isn't the first assignment superfluous then and can be safely removed? Or am I missing something here?