How viable are the alternatives to C-style arrays?

Question

Now that we have std::array, std::vector and brace initialization, are C-style arrays still needed?

Answer 1

One thing that C-style arrays still hold over std::array is size deduction. You can do the following with C-style arrays, but not really with std::array:

int arr[] = {1,2,3,4,5}; // no explicit size

Now, we also have another candidate for C-style arrays replacement: std::initializer_list. Internally, it is backed by some kind of array-like storage, but observe:

#include <initializer_list> // needed

// ...
auto list = {1,2,3,4,5}; // no explicit size, and no explicit type!

And decltype(list) == std::initializer_list<int>. However, currently, you can't query the size or elements of such an std::initializer_list at compile-time, as the member-functions aren't marked constexpr (yet, fixed in C++14). Also, an even bigger problem: std::initializer_list only provides const-access to the elements, so you can't mutate them.
But caution: std::initializer_lists have reference semantics and if they are returned from a function, you'll have a dangling reference to some storage.

In the end, I'd say there's still a place for C-style arrays in some narrow situations and niches, but in the general case, we have better options available now with std::array and std::initializer_list.