Typecasting malloc C++ [duplicate]

Question

I have some C code with malloc statements in it that I want to merge with some C++ code.

I was wondering when and why is typecasting a call to malloc neccessary in C++?

For example:

char *str = (char*)malloc(strlen(argv[1]) * sizeof(char));

Answer 1

when and why is typecasting a call to malloc neccessary in C++?

Always when not assigning to a void *, since void * doesn't convert implicitly to other pointer types, the way it does in C. But the true answer is you shouldn't ever use malloc in C++ in the first place.

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I am not suggesting you should use new instead of malloc. Modern C++ code should use new sparingly, or avoid it altogether if possible. You should hide all use of new or use non-primitive types (like std::vector mentioned by Xeo). I'm not really qualified to give advice in this direction due to my limited experience but this article along with searching for "C++ avoid new" should help. Then you'll want to look into:

• std::alocator
• Smart pointers