Miu also said up above:
Quote:
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When you want to reference an object that already exists rather than create a new one
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meaning that code like the following, seen often in HLSDK:
PHP Code:
CBaseEntity *pEntity = (CBaseEntity *)GET_PRIVATE(pent);
which just returns entity's private data (edict_t::pvPrivateData) which could be any class that derives from CBaseEntity (that's just how things work in GoldSrc). By doing that, you are not creating a new instance of CBaseEntity, you are just pointing to an existing one, allowing you to alter entity's private data.
I really can't think of any good examples right now, sorry about that, hope these explanations are good enough to make you understand the concept a little bit better.