Why is punctuation so important? Are there any cases where it is not needed?

Related questions

• What is the shortest sentence that still makes sense and conveys something in the English language?
• Do you capitalize the first letters of diseases when writing an article?
• What is open punctuation, standard punctuation, and closed punctuation?
• In which sentence is the punctuation correct?
• Is this the correct punctuation? I need help with these sentences. If not, why?
• When referring to a piece of artwork, should I use quotes or underlining? Also, should the date...
• What is the correct punctuation in this sentence? Day's, days' or days?
• Is this punctuation correct? If not, could you explain?
• What punctuation symbol do you put before you write a title of a book?
• Can someone direct me to or guide me through some basic capitalization rules?