Multi dimensional array question.

[bearophile]

Jonathan M Davis:
> Personally, I'd advise you to just use dynamic arrays unless you do
> some profiling and find that a static array is better in a particular case.

To program you need a less naive view. I sometimes start using dynamic arrays everywhere because they are handy, then I profile code and then replace some critical allocations of dynamic arrays with static arrays, and I usually see good speed-ups. With some brain you can often find a static size (or a way to compute it statically) that is good for the algorithm/problem you are working on. In such cases using a static array is often better, the GC doesn't need to deallocate it, and heap activity is one of the most important causes of low performance in programs (or if they are allocated inside class/struct instances you remove some heap allocations, coalescing them). Static arrays are simpler, so in some situations they can make the code simpler.

Bye,
bearophile