Question

How can I set a pointer to a C array in my constructor?

@implementation NSBufferedInputStream {
    char *buffer;
    int bufferSize;
}

- (id)initWithFileAtPath:(NSString *)path
{
    self = [super initWithFileAtPath:path];
    if (self) {
        bufferSize = 100;
        buffer = char[bufferSize]; // ERROR: Expected expression
    }
}
@end

Answer 1

If you truly need a dynamically-sized array,

- (id)initWithFileAtPath:(NSString *)path
{
    self = [super initWithFileAtPath:path];
    if (self) {
        bufferSize = 100;
        buffer = malloc(sizeof(char) * bufferSize);
    }
}

- (void)dealloc
{
    free(buffer);
    [super dealloc];
}

Otherwise, if your array size is known at compile time, just change your ivar from char *buffer; to:

char buffer[100]