Pointers

std::vector< std::string > vec;

std::string str( "Hello World!" ); // 1
vec.push_back( str ); // 2

std::string  str2 = vec[ 0 ];  // 3
std::string& str3 = vec[ 0 ];  // 4
std::string* str4 = &vec[ 0 ]; // 5

std::vector< std::string >::iterator it; // 6
it = vec.begin(); // 7

std::string  str5 = ( * it );  // 8
std::string& str6 = ( * it );  // 9
std::string* str7 = &( * it ); // 10

/*
1. The original string
2. A copy of 1 is put into vec

3. A copy of the string stored in vec (2)
4. A reference to the string in vec (2)
5. A pointer to the string in vec (2)

6. An empty iterator
7. An iterator pointing to the string in vec (2)

8. A copy of the string pointed to by it (7)
9. A reference to the string pointed to by it (7)
10. A pointer to the string pointed to by it (7)
    'it' isn't an actual string. It's a thinly wrapped pointer.
    But, it doesn't implicitly convert to a pointer, so we can't
    just do std::string* ptr = it;.

    Instead, you'll need to convert it to a reference to a string
    (which is '( * it )'), and then get the address (which is
    '&( * it )'). If you try '&it', you are getting the address
    of the iterator, not the string. But in an iterator, the
    '( * it )' operator is overloaded to return a reference to
    the object it points to.
*/