malloc returns a void pointer...what this means is that the return points to something, but that something could be more or less anything......so what you are doing above is giving a hint to the compiler that the data returned from malloc should be treated as a pointer to a char (or an array of chars).......
in std C, there's no need to cast from malloc, but of you are compiling your code as C++, it will give an error without the cast being present.....this is due to C++ being more type sensitive (it has to be due to its ability to define custom types)
