Dereferencing void pointers

In the hope of gaining a better understanding of the answers given in this post, can someone please explain to me if the following circular buffer implementation is possible, and if not, why not. ``` #define CB_TYPE_CHAR 0 #define CB_TYPE_FLOAT 1 ... typedef struct CBUFF { uint16 total; /* Total number of array elements */ uint16 size; /* Size of each array element */ uint16 type; /* Array element type */ uint16 used; /* Number of array elements in use */ uint16 start; /* Array index of first unread element */ void *elements; /* Pointer to array of elements */ } CBUFF; ... void cbRead(CBUFF *buffer, void *element) { if (buffer->type == CB_TYPE_CHAR) { /* The RHS of this statement is the problem */ *(char*)element = *(buffer->elements[buffer->start]); } /* Other cases will go here */ buffer->start = (buffer->start + 1) % buffer->total; --buffer->used; } ``` I understand that the LHS must be cast to char so that I can dereference the void pointer. I also understand that this code fragment: ``` buffer->elements[buffer->start] ``` gives the address of the 'buffer->start' element of the elements array, which I also want to dereference in order to get to the content of that address. Or at least that's what I take from K&R. Given all that, how do I tell the compiler that the content of the memory at that address is a char, and that it is okay to dereference it? There is something going on here I just don't understand.