I've been studying some of the graphics examples supplied with FB.

I have three questions about symbols:

1) In the following statement, what is the purpose of the carat ^ before
CGrafPort?
DIM @ drawGW  as  ^CGrafPort

2) Why is does the double equal sign (==) exist. According to the Ref.
Manual, it is equivalent to a single = sign.
Here is a statement where I found it:

LONG IF FN LockPixels( FN GetGWorldPixMap( drawGW ) ) == _false

3) Also, why is there a second symbol for inequality: != in addition to <>?

Are the last two symbols created to confound the newbies?

TIA

Richard