When running the compiler in VAX C mode, relaxed pointer and pointer /integer compatibility is allowed. That is, all pointer and integer types are compatible, and pointer types are compatible with each other regardless of the type of the object they point to. Therefore, in VAX C mode, a pointer to float is compatible with a pointer to int. This is not true in ANSI C mode.
Although pointer conversions do not involve a representation change when compiling in VAX C mode, because of alignment restrictions on some machines, access through an unaligned pointer can result in much slower access time, a machine exception, or unpredictable results.