Is it better to allocate memory using a pointer to its struct, or the struct itself? [duplicate]

Question

I got the same values by replacing the line marked with (1) in my actual code with:

Date *ptrdate = malloc(12 * sizeof(*ptrdate));

Question: Which one is better and why?

Here is my actual code:

typedef struct {
    int day;
    int mo;
} Date;

void main(){
    Date *ptrdate = malloc(12 * sizeof(Date)); //(1)

    ptrdate[0].day=26;
    ptrdate[0].mo=5;
    printf("Date:%d/%d\n", ptrdate[0].day, ptrdate[0].mo);
}

Answer 1

Writing your code as

Date *ptrdate = malloc(12 * sizeof(*ptrdate));

or, a cleaner approach

Date *ptrdate = malloc(12 * sizeof *ptrdate);  //sizeof is operator, no need for extra "()"

is more acceptable and desirable, as it makes code more robust. Even if

• the type of ptrdate gets changed in future
• using the code along with any external library which has a seperatetypedefed Date (creating a conflict)^[#]

you don't need to change this part(s) of code.

Also, the recommended signature of main() is int main(void).

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^{[#]Thanks to Mr. @Elias Van Ootegem for the comment below]}