C is a scary language. Once you know C you deserve respect from programmers who can use namby-pamby languages like BASIC. One of the (many) reasons that C programmers deserve respect is that C programmers know all about pointers.

To get this respect may involve a bit of head scratching, but believe me it is worth the effort. If I didn't understand pointers in C I would not be the famous, rich, globe trotting playboy that I am, and my country manor, garage full of Ferraris and private jet would all be just figments of my imagination.

A pointer is just what the name implies, a pointer to a memory location. In the diagram above I have a block of data and a pointer which points at it. In fact, because the locations in memory are actually numbered, a pointer is really a number. The pointer (which I have called Scores) points to the base of a block of data in the memory space. The rest of the memory (the shaded part) is used for other things.

The pointer scores equals the location of data.