C/C++ [C++] Reading a binary file into a byte array

[Silicon Waffle]

I have to read a binary file into a byte array and chop it wherever I like.
I'd like to use a vector of char to do this. But reading some resources from known people, I find they tend to use char* or char []. Using a vector of chars seems easier for retrieval of any block of bytes.
Which means of storage would be better to you ? Thank you.

 

[berkeman]

I have to read a binary file into a byte array and chop it wherever I like.
I'd like to use a vector of char to do this. But reading some resources from known people, I find they tend to use char* or char []. Using a vector of chars seems easier for retrieval of any block of bytes.
Which means of storage would be better to you ? Thank you.

When you say "vector", do you mean "array"? If so, your mention of char[] applies...

 

[Silicon Waffle]

I mean C++'s vector class.

 

[rcgldr]

There's a small amount of overhead for a vector, since there's a local structure, that contains a pointer to the allocated memory (as well as other parameters like the object type and number of objects). When combining old and new code, sometimes I'll use a vector in the main code, but call an old code function that takes a pointer to object as a parameter. For example, if I have vector <char> vectorofchar ..., I use &vectorofchar[0] as a parameter for the old code function.