Finding size of dynamically allocated array

Question

Why is it not possible to get the length of a buffer allocated in this fashion.

AType * pArr = new AType[nVariable];

When the same array is

Answer 1

The runtime DOES know how much was allocated. However such details are compiler specific so you don't have any cross platform way to handle it.

If you would like the same functionality and be able to track the size you could use a std::vector as follows:

std::vector< AType > pArr( nVariable );

This has the added advantage of using RAII as well.