I am actually speaking from the point of view from someone who used to think pointers were useless. They are most definately not. If you don't understand them, you have to learn, because you cannot get past the title of "Newbie" until you do.

For those of you who do not understand how pointers work, i'll try to explain.

Code:
#include <iostream.h>

int main(void)
{
   int *ptr; //this creates a pointer to an integer (int). The * means it's a pointer. the actual data type is: int *
   int x = 0;
   ptr = &x; //sets the pointer to the address of x.
   cout<<"stored in ptr is: "<<ptr<<endl;
   cout<<"stored in x is: "<<x<<endl;
   cout<<"stored in *ptr is: "<<*ptr<<endl; //by using * you dereference the pointer.
   *ptr = 5;
   cout<<"*ptr set to: "<<*ptr<<endl;
   cout<<"x is now: "<<x<<endl;
   return 0;
}
I hope that clears up somethings. Feel free to ask questions or add to what I've said. I am not a C++ guru, but I figured other people may have the same question I did: Why do we need to learn pointers?

I know I didn't cover everything, but I hope this will inspire some people to help the newbs learn more about pointers.