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The malloc() function (cont)

Usage of malloc() should always be guarded: 

int *vector, length, i;
...
vector = (int *)malloc(length*sizeof(int));
// but malloc() might fail to allocate
assert(vector != NULL);
// now we know its safe to use vector[]
for (i = 0; i < length; i++) {
	... vector[i] ...
}

Alternatively: 

int *vector, length, i;
...
vector = (int *)malloc(length*sizeof(int));
// but malloc() might fail to allocate
if (vector == NULL) {
	fprintf(stderr, "Out of memory\n");
	exit(1);
}
// now we know its safe to use vector[]
for (i = 0; i < length; i++) {
	... vector[i] ...
}