char *c better aligns with C/C++ philosophy, but char* c is safer. The syntax char *c says *c (c dereferenced) is a char, which makes c a pointer to char. However, teaching/learning this syntax/philosophy can be hard when people are just getting introduced to pointers. Also, the declaration char *c, d makes c a char*, but d a char. This confuses beginners who are used to declarations such as int a, b which makes both a and b ints. Thus, the declaration char* c is preferred: easier to learn and safer.