ios - C-Style 2D Array as ivar -

in c, following create 2d array:

int intarray[10][10]; 

in c99, create vla:

size_t col = 10; size_t row = 10;  int array[row][col]; 

within method in objective-c, can create 2d array hold ids follows:

id genobjectarray[10][10]; 

is possible create 2d array ivar in objective-c?

the following have tried:

@interface myclass () {     id objarray[][];      //this doesn't work, unless specific size.     //i want this, specific size later during      //runtime } 

in c, following , allocate space 2d array later within block scope:

int **array; int *elements; 

i can same within objective-c, too, problem arises when use id or other object types; other words, following not valid:

id **array; id *elements; 

thus, question is, possible declare c-style 2d array ivar holds ids?

i understand achieve using normal ns(mutable)array; serves educational purposes.

you can't this. c99 vla, space required array allocated @ point array declared. ivar, analogous time when object allocated , initialized, there's no support in objective c that. you'd need have stronger definition of object constructor can (more java's constructors objective c's initializers).

the closest can this:

@interface myclass () {     id * objarray; }  -(instancetype)initwithrow:(size_t)row col:(size_t)col {     self = [super init];     if (self) {         objarray = calloc(row * col * sizeof(id));     }     return self; }  -(void)dealloc {     free(objarray); } 

in case, you're declaring ivar pointer , managing storage (and stride, multi-dimensional array).

obviously, nsarray better in possible ways.