I fully agree: it's confusing.

     Actually, in a single statement one can declare objects of 
different data types, the base type, pointers to it, pointers to 
pointers etc. This allows for many places to put qualifiers such as 
const, volatile, static, register.

     The syntax used by Rainer is usefull when declaring in the same 
statement constant and non-constant characters, which I, personnaly, try 
to avoid because it is confusing. Confusing statements simply boost the 
probability for bugs.

     Didier