What exactly does the C Structure Dot Operator Do (Lower Level Perspective)?

Question

I have a question regarding structs in C. So when you create a struct, you are essentially defining the framework of a block of memory. Thus when you create an instance of a str

Answer 1

Yes, the dot operator simply applies an offset from the base of the structure, and then accesses the value at that address.

int x = CarInstance.GasMileage;

is equivalent to:

int x = *(int *)((char*)&CarInstance + offsetof(Car, GasMileage));

For a member with some other type T, the only difference is that the cast (int *) becomes (T *).