Instruments say this code from Erica Sadun is leaking

Programmer Question

I have this snippet of code from Erica Sadun (the only woman I ever heard that kicks butts in programming) from a class she created, that Instruments say is leaking.

- (void)cacheBeginPointForTouches:(NSSet *)touches
{
    if ([touches count] > 0) {
        for (UITouch *touch in touches) {
            CGPoint *point = (CGPoint *)CFDictionaryGetValue(touchBeginPoints, touch);
            if (point == NULL) {
                point = (CGPoint *)malloc(sizeof(CGPoint));
                CFDictionarySetValue(touchBeginPoints, touch, point);
            }
            *point = [touch locationInView:self.superview];
        }
    }
}

Instruments is pointing to

 point = (CGPoint *)malloc(sizeof(CGPoint));

as the leaking line.

As this malloc stuff is not familiar to me. I know that it allocates memory, but as I never worked with C, C++ and other flavors of C, malloc and I are not acquaintances.

Another question I don't understand is why she put an asterisk before "point" on

*point = [touch locationInView:self.superview];

So, do you see something wrong with the code and why instruments are saying it is leaking there? An explanation about the asterisk is a bonus! :)

thanks.

Find the answer here