When coding for large projects like video games or massive applications, the data set becomes extremely large over time. Sifting through hundreds of thousands of lines of code isn’t a practical option when; debugging, linking functions or referencing data. Pointers are a sort of “bookmark” to keep tabs on important data points which you know you’ll need again in the future. This is especially handy for codes that are written over larger time spans (years) when the writer might have ample time to forget.
Am I close? It sounded good in my head.