> So I'm wondering yet again: why do people find C pointers so difficult to grok? Is it conceptual (indirection), notational (& and *, arrays as pointers, etc),

> So I'm wondering yet again: why do people find C pointers so difficult to grok? Is it conceptual (indirection), notational (& and *, arrays as pointers, etc), or something else? I think people need some background of computer architecture and operating systems before working with pointers, then instead of "what the heck are these addresses?" you get "oh that's how I can use all of these addresses, finally, yay, pointers" moment. If you just learn C/Cpp and related without the background, it's some magical and cumbersome feature.