Perhaps it helps that C was my first exposure? As it conceptualizes memory as an array, a pointer was naturally conceptualized as an array index. There was no r

Perhaps it helps that C was my first exposure? As it conceptualizes memory as an array, a pointer was naturally conceptualized as an array index. There was no real novelty in that. But maybe we're talking more abstractly, outside of computing? I watched my children start to learn about lists and indices around the age of four to five. Presumably the story was similar for me. If there was a mind-blowing experience at that time, it is true that I have forgotten about it (along with most other things that happened back then).