I use to use the following memory allocation scheme:
#define NEW(t) ((t *)(malloc (sizeof (t))))
Bad idea.
As already noted, if you forgot to #include <stdlib.h>,
the cast will prevent the warning message you would normally have got.
It's also a bad idea because you have to keep mentioning the type
over and over and over, and if the variable type changes, the code will
break.
Better idea:
#define new(var) (var) = emalloc(sizeof *(var))
#define new_array(var, n) (var) = emalloc((n) * sizeof *(var))
where emalloc() is a function just like malloc() but which catches
errors.
Then
t *var;
new(var);
new_array(var, n+1);
t *var = NEW (t) /* GOOD */
x *var = NEW (t) /* BAD, compiler complains about */
x *var = malloc (sizeof t) does not catch this kind of errors
which amongst other things is why var = malloc(sizeof *var) is better.
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