Assigning size of array entered by user to array

Question

Why I can't use this code when I want to assign the size of array entered by user to array?

int n;
cin>>n;
int array[n];

And is there another way of doing this instead of using this construction?

int n;
cin>>n;
int *array;
array = new int[n];

Arrays declared in the first manner require a known, fixed size at compile time. For the second, you can also use a vector — Ryan J, Dec 24 '14 at 22:06
Try using `std::vector` instead of managing memory yourself. — Fred Larson, Dec 24 '14 at 22:12

score -1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 24 '14 at 22:09

According to O'Reilly "C++ In A Nutshell" (2003),

An array is specified with a constant size in square brackets

Since your variable n is not a constant, it can't be used to specify the size of the array.

The same paragraph also says,

For an array-like container whose size can change at runtime, see <vector> in Chapter 13.

Sorry, but you are not allowed to have this construction.

1 Answers1