Dynamically sized raw array

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// Example of raw dynamic size array. It's generally better to use std::vector.
#include <algorithm>            // std::sort
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

auto int_from( istream& in ) -> int { int x; in >> x; return x; }

auto main()
    -> int
{
    cout << "Sorting n integers provided by you.\n";
    cout << "n? ";
    int const   n   = int_from( cin );
    int*        a   = new int[n];       // ← Allocation of array of n items.
    
    for( int i = 1; i <= n; ++i )
    {
        cout << "The #" << i << " number, please: ";
        a[i-1] = int_from( cin );
    }

    sort( a, a + n );
    for( int i = 0; i < n; ++i ) { cout << a[i] << ' '; }
    cout << '\n';
    
    delete[] a;
}

A program that declares an array T a[n]; where n is determined a run-time, can compile with certain compilers that support C99 variadic length arrays (VLAs) as a language extension. But VLAs are not supported by standard C++. This example shows how to manually allocate a dynamic size array via a new[]-expression,

int*        a   = new int[n];       // allocation of array of n items.

… then use it, and finally deallocate it via a delete[]-expression:

delete[] a;

The array allocated here has indeterminate values, but it can be zero-initialized by just adding an empty parenthesis (), like this: new int[n](). More generally, for arbitrary item type, this performs a value-initialization.

As part of a function down in a call hierarchy this code would not be exception safe, since an exception before the delete[] expression (and after the new[]) would cause a memory leak. One way to address that issue is to automate the cleanup via e.g. a std::unique_ptr smart pointer. But a generally better way to address it is to just use a std::vector: that’s what std::vector is there for.

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Arrays:
* Dynamically sized raw array

Table Of Contents
8 Arrays
11 Loops
39 Streams
51 Unions
56 Lambdas
60 SFINAE
62 RAII
67 Sorting
84 RTTI
87 Scopes
104 Profiling
107 Recursion
117 Iteration
125 Alignment
134 Semaphore
136 Debugging
139 Mutexes
142 decltype