I&#39;m trying to wrap my head around some of the differences in usage and syntax in C vs. Objective-C.  In particular, I want to know how (and why) the usage differs for the dot operator and the arrow operator in C vs. Objective-C.  Here is a simple example.

**C Code:**

    // declare a pointer to a Fraction
    struct Fraction *frac;

    ...

    // reference an &#39;instance&#39; variable
    int n = (*frac).numerator;     // these two expressions
    int n = frac-&gt;numerator;       // are equivalent


**Objective-C Code:**

    // declare a pointer to a Fraction
    Fraction *frac = [[Fraction alloc] init];

    ...

    // reference an instance variable
    int n = frac.numerator;        // why isn&#39;t this (*frac).numerator or frac-&gt;numerator??

So, seeing how `frac` is the same in both programs (i.e. it is a pointer to a Fraction object or struct), why are they using different syntax when accessing properties?  In particular, in C, the `numerator` property is accessed with `frac-&gt;numerator`, but with Objective-C, it is accessed using the dot operator, with `frac.numerator`.  Since `frac` is a pointer in both programs, why are these expressions different?  Can anyone help clarify this for me?

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Dot (".") operator and arrow ("->") operator use in C vs. Objective-C