What Does This Code Do?

[X Abstract X]

I came across this code that compiles and runs (XCode, iOS) but it definitely isn't initializing the contents of the array. I'm pretty certain it's got to be doing something nasty. Can anyone explain this?

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std::string* myStrings = new std::string[4] { "Apples", "Oranges", "Bananas", "Coconuts" };

[Nokurn]

I am not sure I see what you mean. This code produces an error in C++98/03, since it uses an initializer list, but compiles and executes correctly in C++11:

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Jeremiah@mercury:~/Desktop% cat myStrings.cpp 
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main()
{
    std::string* myStrings = new std::string[4] { "Apples", "Oranges", "Bananas", "Coconuts" };
    for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i)
        std::cout << i << ": " << myStrings[i] << std::endl;
    return 0;
}
Jeremiah@mercury:~/Desktop% c++ myStrings.cpp -o myStrings 
myStrings.cpp:5:48: error: expected ';' at end of declaration
    std::string* myStrings = new std::string[4] { "Apples", "Oranges", "Bananas", "Coconuts" };
                                               ^
                                               ;
1 error generated.
Jeremiah@mercury:~/Desktop% c++ -std=c++11 -stdlib=libc++ myStrings.cpp -o myStrings     
Jeremiah@mercury:~/Desktop% ./myStrings 
0: Apples
1: Oranges
2: Bananas
3: Coconuts

This is with Clang 3.3 on Mac OS X, but the behavior is the same on GCC 4.8.1 on Arch Linux.

If your misunderstanding comes from the use of {} to initialize a dynamically allocated array by assignment: This is a new feature in C++11 known as initializer lists, which Wikipedia has a good overview of. They're one of my favorite parts of C++11.

[dandymcgee]

After being stuck in C# world for so long I honestly forgot that this ever wasn't valid code. Lol.

[X Abstract X]

I looked at it again today, same issue. I'm using XCode 4.2 which uses LLVM 3.0 btw. I realize it's a C++ 0x feature, I'm just surprised at the fact that it compiles without an issue but simply does not initialize the damn strings. I'm guessing it's just a bug in this version?