Why but why do we ever need to use pointers in C/C++?

See more:

C++

macOS

I'm a cs student working towards my degree. My road to graduation is still a pretty far deal. However, i want to make sure that im doing everything i can to surpass all the others cs students.

Anyways, i'm trying to wrap my head around why we use pointers or why ever bother using them in my code. I understand that a pointer points to an address. That address demonstrates the variable memory location.

So in essence, i can determine what address my variable have. However, assuming every user is using a computer, wouldn't the address change for that specific variable, since its a dynamic value (assigned by hardware etc.)?

The only time i feel i will need it is in a circumstance were i want to pass specific objects as parameters, but the only work around is through pointers (not there yet, thats why i can say what it would be).

Please if anyone wants to elaborate, please do. I want to understand memory management, and how it applies in our applications.

Thank You,
Jonathan V.

What I have tried:

unsigned short shortVar = 5;
std::cout << "shortVar: " << shortVar << std::endl;
std::cout << "Address of shortVar is: " << &shortVar << std::endl;

//OUTPUT
/*
shortVar: 5
Address of shortVar is: 0x7fff51986b2a
*/