I've a got a small utility class that is a cross between boost::array and std::vector for when I only have a compile time constant max things. This is beats to complexity of fighting with custom allocators/pools. const unsigned n=100; Thing array[n]; unsigned count=0; goes to: array_vector<Thing,100> things; It's stl compliant and should drop in anywhere you've got a vector. Like vector and unlike boost::array (or regular array) 100 Things are not constructed. Have I reinvented something in boost? Should I submit it? Also related to this. There are a class of problems where n is known only on runtime, but you still only need it in a certain scope. gcc (C99 standard) allows variable length arrays on the stack. Does anyone know if that is allowed in C++11? What would think about something like this? unsigned n=readInt(); placeholder<Thing> bufffer[n]; //variable length data on stack buffer_vector<Thing> v(buffer,n); Chris