What role is typedef playing in this block of code?

Question

I'm new to learning C++ and wanted some clarification on what typedef is doing in the block of code below.

typedef struct strNode Node;
struct strNode
{
  int number;   
  int weight;   
  list<Node> edges; 
};

I understand that struct strNode is creating a new datatype but what is typedef struct strNode Node doing exactly?

Answer 1

what is typedef struct strNode Node doing exactly?

It's creating an alias for strNode so that you can use strNode and Node interchangeably. This setup is usually used in C to be able to use the alias within the struct definition:

typedef struct Node Node;
struct Node
{
  int number;   
  int weight;   
  Node *next;
};

This is not needed in C++. Node could here be used directly without typedef:

struct Node
{
  int number;   
  int weight;   
  std::list<Node> edges;
};