I've been programming C++ for too long to really understand why people find pointers hard, but I do remember that I did too at the beginning, and I do remember my epiphany (reading on the train, funny how I remember such senseless details 15 years later yet can't memorize a 4-item shopping list): given a declaration of

    struct Foo {
        int a;
    };
    Foo* f;

, the following two are equivalent:

    int b = f->a;

and

    int b = (*f).a;

Never had it spelled out for me like this, probably because it's so obvious once you get it - thought I'd share in case it gives anyone else an 'aha' moment.