Is using flexible array members in C bad practice? -

i read using flexible array members in c poor software engineering practice. however, statement not backed argument. accepted fact?

(flexible array members c feature introduced in c99 whereby 1 can declare last element array of unspecified size. example: )

struct header {     size_t len;     unsigned char data[]; };

the reason give not doing it's not worth tie code c99 use feature.

the point can use following idiom:

struct header {   size_t len;   unsigned char data[1]; };

that portable. can take 1 account when allocating memory n elements in array data :

ptr = malloc(sizeof(struct header) + (n-1));

if have c99 requirement build code other reason or target specific compiler, see no harm.

Ray access