I'm reading The C Book to try and get a better foundation in C. While I think I'm generally getting the concept of pointers, one thing sticks out to me is that it seems like it's generalizing whatever it's pointing to into a global variable (e.g. the ability to use pointers to return values from `void` functions), which naturally carries with it all the attendant dangers, I assume. Aside from the fact that a pointer references a specific variable or index in an array, what is the difference between a pointer and a global variable?
I think this is the first time i've seen the phrase "The C Book" referring to a work other than K&R.