Pointer to a pointer to a pointer

I never thought I'd ever use the datatype void**** in a real project. Yet I did. That's the datatype of a pointer to a smart pointer to a COM object, which contains a pointer to the virtual function table, which is an array of function pointers.

Are you lost yet? Let's recap. The virtual function table is an array of pointers, function pointers to be precise. The pointer to it, which by convention constitutes the first data element in a COM object, is a pointer to an array of pointers, type void**. The interface pointer to a COM object points at the object itself, which is to say, points at the first data element, so it's void***. A smart pointer object holds the interface pointer as its first and only data element (no virtual functions there), so a pointer to a smart pointer object is a pointer to its first data element, so it's void****.

Lack of a typelib is not a security fault

Amazing discovery of the day: Microsoft Word pops up a security prompt for a perfectly good macro if a reference to a typelib can't be resolved.