iterator to dereferencing to referencing again

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that this was bad practice, but had to do it just to get around the compiler error:

Code:

---

typedef stl_container<type> A;
typedef different_container<type*> B;
A a;
B b;
for(A::iterator it = a.begin(); it != a.end(); it++)
{
    b.insert(&(*it)); //dereference, then apply addressof operator again
}

---

Let me emphasize that there is no way for me at the moment to get around this. I need to work on the original object later on, and not a copy. That's why I need to pass around a reference.

What's the recommended way of doing this? And why is my kludge(?)workaround(?) discouraged?

It depends on what stl_container actually is. There are rules about address invalidation for the various containers. A list's entries are invalidated only when they're deleted. A vector's entries are invalidated if something is inserted/erased before their own position, or if the vector has to reallocate. I can't remember the deque rules, but they're harsh. The set and map rules are like list's.
It's fine to hold pointers to objects in a container that doesn't invalidate. It's dangerous to hold pointers to objects in a container that does. If you know the container won't change during the lifetime of the container holding the pointers, though, you can do that, too.

If the pointers might be invalidated, you can hold something else inside both A and B. For example, you could use a shared_ptr<type> inside both A and B. Then, both references should always be valid as long as you are using them.

Well, I guess I lucked onto the correct solution then. The A container is a list, and the B container is a vector. Thanks for the help.

And I'll keep the shared_ptr in mind when I have to use vectors or similar.