Revisited: difference between static array and dynamic array in C++?

Question

I'm a beginner for C++ and I saw the post here. However, it is very unclear for me what is the benefit of dynamic array.

One advantage is that one can change the length of a dynamic array, here is the code

int *p = new int[10];
// when run out of the memory, we can resize
int *temp = new int[20];
copy(p, temp); // copy every element from p to temp
delete[] p; // delete the old array
p = temp;
temp = nullptr;

Above is for dynamic allocation, it says the array will be on the heap, and need to manually delete it. However, why not use the static array as follow

int array1[10];
int *p = array1;
// when run out of the memory, we can resize
int array2[20];
copy(array1, array2); // copy every elements from array1 to array2;
p = array2;

In this code, we don't need to delete the array1 since it is on the stack area. Here are my question:

what is the benefit of the dynamic array? It seems for me, resizing is not a big issue. People always say the size of static array are fixed, the size of dynamic array is not fixed. Why the size of dynamic array is not fixed. for example, int p=new int[10], the size of p is fixed.

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Doing your own dynamic array with new int[20] and delete[] etc, is no doubt good for learning how it all works.

In real C++ programs you would use std::vector. Maybe like this:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>

int main() {
  std::vector<std::string> lines;

  std::string line;
  while (std::getline(std::cin, line)) {
    lines.push_back(line);
  }

  std::cout << "Read " << lines.size() << " lines of input\n";
}

The reason you would use dynamic allocation is so your program can handle any number of lines of any line length. This program can read four lines or 400,000. The std::vector is dynamic. So is std::string.

Answer 2

I have write a code on static and dynamics array, hope this will help.

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

int main (){
    //creating the static array .. rember the syntax of it.
    int array[4]= {1,2,3,4}; // size is fixed and can not be changeable at run time.
    
    cout<<"Static Array."<<endl;
    cout<<"Printing using index."<<endl;
    for(int x=0;x<4;x++){
        cout<<"\t"<<array[x];
    }
    
    cout<<endl;
    cout<<"Printing using pointer."<<endl;
    int*ptr= array;
    for(int x=0;x<4;x++){
        cout<<"\t"<<*ptr++;
    }
    //delete [] array ;// error, because we can not free the size from stack
//  array[6]= {1,2,3,4,5,6}; //Error: We can not change the size of static array if it already defined.
// we can not change the size of the static aray at run time.
    
    cout<<endl;
    cout<<"\n\nDynamic Array."<<endl; 
   int n=4;
   //Creating a dynamic Array, remember the systex of it.
   int *array2 = new int [n]; // size is not fixed and changeable at run time.
   array2[0]= 1;
   array2[1]= 2;
   array2[2]= 3;
   array2[3]= 4;
    cout<<endl;
    cout<<"Printing using index."<<endl;
    for(int x=0;x<4;x++){
        cout<<"\t"<<array2[x];
    }
    
    cout<<endl;
        cout<<"Printing using pointer."<<endl;
    int*ptr2= array2;
    for(int x=0;x<4;x++){
        cout<<"\t"<<*ptr2++;
    }
    cout<<endl<<endl<<endl;
    delete array2; //Size is remove at runtime
     cout<<"Chnaging the size of dynamic array at runtime... :)";
    // Changing the size of the array to 10.. at runtime 
    array2 = new int [10]; // Array size is now change to 10 at runtime
   array2[0]= 1;
   array2[1]= 2;
   array2[2]= 3;
   array2[3]= 4;
   array2[4]= 5;
   array2[5]= 6;
   array2[6]= 7;
   array2[7]= 8;
   cout<<endl;
    cout<<"Printing using index."<<endl;
    for(int x=0;x<7;x++){
        cout<<"\t"<<array2[x];
    }
    // free the memory/ heap
    delete [] array2;
    return 0;
}

Output