Thread: Object's array on the stack vs array on the heap

Is there any benefit to having this:

OPTION 1:

Code:

class stackArray{    
static const int STACK_SIZE = 3;
public:
    stackArray(){
        item = new int[STACK_SIZE];
        item[0] = 100;
        item[1] = 101;
        item[2] = 102;
    };
    int *item;
};

over this:

OPTION 2:

Code:

class stackArray{    
static const int STACK_SIZE = 3;
public:
    stackArray(){
        item[0] = 100;
        item[1] = 101;
        item[2] = 102;
    };
    int item[STACK_SIZE];
};

I would think that option 2 could cause dangling pointers but when I test it, it isn't the case. I tested option 2 with the following code:

Code:

stackArray createObject(){    
stackArray instance1;
    return instance1;
}


int main (){
    cout << createObject().item[0] << endl;
    cout << createObject().item[1] << endl;
    cout << createObject().item[2] << endl;
    return 0;
}

And it printed out the array the same as option 1 with no garbage values.