Techniques like these are always interesting, even if you don't have much opportunity/need to apply them. The source for software like NetHack might not be a go

Techniques like these are always interesting, even if you don't have much opportunity/need to apply them. The source for software like NetHack might not be a good place to look for best practices, but it can be enlightening in other ways (if you're careful to avoid copying just anything you see). On that note, while the article doesn't (explicitly) mention it, it would be wise to remember that VLAs of unbounded size will end up overflowing the stack eventually. They have their uses, but can be tricky to apply safely. Be careful!