Why can't constant values be used to define an array's initial size? Ans. There are times when constant values can be used and there are times when they can't. A C program can use what C considers to be constant expressions, but not everything C would accept. When defining the size of an array, you need to use a constant expression. A constant expression will always have the same value, no matter what happens at runtime, and it's easy for the compiler to figure out what that value is. It might be a simple numeric literal: char a[ 512 ]; Or it might be a 'manifest constant' defined by the preprocessor: #define MAX 512 /* ... */ char a[ MAX ]; Or it might be a sizeof: char a[ sizeof( struct cacheObject ) ]; Or it might be an expression built up of constant expressions: char buf[ sizeof( struct cacheObject ) * MAX ]; Enumerations are allowed too. An initialized const int variable is not a constant expression in C: int max = 512; /* not a constant expression in C */ char buffer[ max ]; /* not valid C */ Using const ints as array sizes is perfectly legal in C ; it's even recommended. That puts a burden on C compilers (to keep track of the values of const int variables) that C compilers don't need to worry about. On the other hand, it frees C programs from using the C preprocessor quite so much.