Allocating a fixed-size array on the heap

[Don Clugston]

Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
> So, in the process of answering another thread, I realized that it doesn't 
> entirely seem possible to allocate a fixed-size array on the heap through 
> normal means.  That is,  the following is legal:
> 
> float[4] a;
> float[4]* b = &a;
> 
> But:
> 
> float[4]* c = new float[4];
> 
> "Waiit," says the compiler, "the type of 'new float[4]' is float[]."
> 
> So here some syntactic sugar is getting in the way of writing what I mean!

I don't think it's just a syntax sugar problem.
You can write:
alias float[4] Foo;
Foo * c = new Foo;

which generates the error message:
Error: new can only create structs, dynamic arrays or class objects, not float[4u]'s

> Am I missing something or is this just yet another instance of how 
> fixed-size arrays aren't treated as first-class citizens? 

The error message isn't correct -- you can also 'new' primitive types.
But you can't new an associative array, either; so AAs are also second-class.