Overhead to using std::vector?

Question

I know that manual dynamic memory allocation is a bad idea in general, but is it sometimes a better solution than using, say, std::vector?

To give a crude e

Answer 1

You should try to avoid C-style-arrays in C++ whenever possible. The STL provides containers which usually suffice for every need. Just imagine reallocation for an array or deleting elements out of its middle. The container shields you from handling this, while you would have to take care of it for yourself, and if you haven't done this a hundred times it is quite error-prone.
An exception is of course, if you are adressing low-level-issues which might not be able to cope with STL-containers.

There have already been some discussion about this topic. See here on SO.