Now that we have std::array what uses are left for C-style arrays?

c++ arrays c++11 initialization
R. Martinho Fernandes picture R. Martinho Fernandes · May 24, 2011 · Viewed 30.1k times · Source

std::array is vastly superior to the C arrays. And even if I want to interoperate with legacy code, I can just use std::array::data(). Is there any reason I would ever want an old-school array?

Answer

James Kanze picture James Kanze · May 24, 2011

Unless I've missed something (I've not followed the most recent changes in the standard too closely), most of the uses of C style arrays still remain. std::array does allow static initialization, but it still won't count the initializers for you. And since the only real use of C style arrays before std::array was for statically initialized tables along the lines of:

MyStruct const table[] =
{
    { something1, otherthing1 },
    //  ...
};

using the usual begin and end template functions (adopted in C++11) to iterate over them. Without ever mentionning the size, which the compiler determines from the number of initializers.

EDIT: Another thing I forgot: string literals are still C style arrays; i.e. with type char[]. I don't think that anyone would exclude using string literals just because we have std::array.

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