Creating an object problem

[Emerald214]

When creating a new object, i can't decide to use "static allocation" or "dynamic allocation".
Ex:

class A
{...};

int main()
{
    // A theObject;
   // or A theObject = new A();  ?
}

In some more complex cases, i don't know what i should do.
Ex:
Use this:

vector<vector<Student>> a;

Or this:

vector<vector<Student *>> a;

accompanied by

a.resize(someSize);
for(i = 0; i < (int)a.size(); ++i)
   a[i] = new Student();

Please explain to me how to use them properly. Thanks thousands.

[Ancient Dragon]

use static allocation unless (1) your os and compiler have very limited stack space, or (2) the objects are huge. Declaring STL containers like vector dynamicall is just a waste of time/effort because they only consume about 20 bytes of memory anyway.

[Emerald214]

Additionally, are there any cases we use this?
vector<int> *a = new vector<int>;

I still don't understand when i should use 'static' or 'dynamic' T_T

[nucleon]

It's a matter of where you want to store the object, and whether you wish it to remain in existence after the function in which it was created has returned.

What you are calling "static" allocation (more properly "automatic") saves the data on the stack. Dynamic allocation stores the data in the free store (a.k.a., the heap).

When data is stored on the stack, it disappears when the function that allocated it returns. By storing the data in the free store, you can return it from a function by returning its address, which will still be valid after the function's stack space is freed.