UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,
I am new at UNIX and programing in general and only have a basic knowledge of C++. I am helping out with some research at a college and was given the task to sort through captured packets via IP addresses. I was wondering if anyone could help me with writing a code which filters through pcap files by ip addresses and then records the timestamps. I know a few programs that do this type of thing such as WireShark but they take up too much memory when analyzing gigabytes of data and that is why I am looking to write a relatively simple code which just gets my task done and gathers data for me.
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Update:
I have heard of Wireshark however there are several problems with that program since it takes up a lot of memory which makes it impossible to analyze large pcap files (I will be working with files upto a few hundred gigabytes) and it becomes too tedious when I am trying to find patterns using hundreds of different IP addresses. I was thinking something more along the lines of using a separate text file for the IP addresses and some how use the 'tcpdump -r myfile.pco -w out.pcap ip src "1.2.3.4"' command to make it so that it matches the IPs with the text file. Also I am only interested in the time stamps and don't require the rest of the details of the packets, so it would be helpful if I wrote a code which filters through the clutter and gives me only the time stamps.
Thank You