Is it a good idea to use C99 VLA compared to malloc/free?

Question

Is it a good idea to use C99 VLA? When is it appropriate to use VLA compared to malloc/free? (since VLA may blow up stack?)

Answer 1

It is a good idea to use C99 VLAs if you have a project that you're only going to compile with a C99 compliant compiler and the alternative is to use alloca(). VLAs should not be used where you would normally use malloc() and if you don't know what alloca() does and what problems you might run into, you should not be using VLAs.