Strict aliasing allows you to convert between a pointer to a struct and a pointer to its first member, since two objects exist at that address, one with the typ

Strict aliasing allows you to convert between a pointer to a struct and a pointer to its first member, since two objects exist at that address, one with the type of the struct and one with the type of the first member. > A pointer to a structure object, suitably converted, points to its initial member (or if that member is a bit-field, then to the unit in which it resides), and vice versa. There may be unnamed padding within a structure object, but not at its beginning.