Refrence instead of Pointer

We try to avoid using pointers in c++ and replace it with references and iterators. Consider the following code:

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
class A{
public:
    A(int x){
        this->x = x;
    }
    int x;
};
vector<A> items;
A* f(){
    return &items[0];
}
int main(){
    items.push_back(A(3));
    A* item = f();
    item->x = 5;
    cout << items[0].x << endl; // prints 5
    return 0;
}

Now we can use it this way:

...
A& f(){
    return items[0];
}
int main(){
    items.push_back(A(3));
    A& item = f();
    item.x = 5;
    cout << items[0].x << endl; // prints 5
    return 0;
}

-That's why we avoided using User* return type for signup and used User&.