2D Array Declaration - Objective C

Question

Is there a way to declare a 2D array of integers in two steps? I am having an issue with scope. This is what I am trying to do:

//I know Java, so this is a         


        

Answer 1

This is my preferred way of creating a 2D array, if you know the size of one of the boundaries:

int (*myArray)[dim2];

myArray = calloc(dim1, sizeof(*myArray));

And it can be freed in one call:

free(myArray);

Unfortunately, one of the bounds MUST be fixed for this to work.

However, if you don't know either of the boundaries, this should work too:

static inline int **create2dArray(int w, int h)
{
    size_t size = sizeof(int) * 2 + w * sizeof(int *);
    int **arr = malloc(size);
    int *sizes = (int *) arr;
    sizes[0] = w;
    sizes[1] = h; 
    arr = (int **) (sizes + 2);

    for (int i = 0; i < w; i++)
    {
        arr[i] = calloc(h, sizeof(**arr));
    }

    return arr;
}

static inline void free2dArray(int **arr)
{
     int *sizes = (int *) arr;
     int w = sizes[-2];
     int h = sizes[-1];

     for (int i = 0; i < w; i++)
         free(arr[i]);

     free(&sizes[-2]);
}