New to Java

Hi,

I need to do a presentation on a chosen computer related subject and I have chose to speak about Java. I will cover the origins and benefits mainly.

I need to gain a better understanding of why pointers are dangerous in C++, I know they are a variable and an address to a variable which provide the programmer with access to this variable he would not have had access to in some cases. They also allow you to perform addition and subtraction and in java this is restricted but I dont fully understand why they are dangerous, can anyone explain a to me why they were so restricted in Java? and please be gentle I am a newbie.

TIA

Mike