Qt widgets and pointers

Question

When working with Qt widgets (i.e; QLabel), why do we use pointers?

For example, why do we write:

QLabel *label = new QLabel("Hello");

And, not:

QLabel label = new QLabel("Hello");?

Thanks.

Answer 1

new returns a pointer. If you create an object via dynamic memory allocation - you obviously have to use a pointer.

QLabel label = new QLabel("Hello"); is incorrect code and will not compile.

Why do you use dynamic allocations for widgets? Because they have to be alive between function calls, as with any event driven GUI system. Allocations on stack (local objects) will be deallocated at the end of the scope, which wouldn't work well with widgets.