Initializing an adjacency matrix in c++ - c++

Question

I'm working on graph implementations in C++ and came across an implementation for an adjacency matrix that mostly made sense to me. The implementation uses an "init" function to initialize the matrix:
void init(int n) {
numVertex = 0;
numEdge = 0;
mark = new int[n]; //initialize mark array
for (int i = 0; i < numVertex; i++) {
mark[i] = 0;
}
matrix = (int**) new int*[numVertex]; //make matrix
for (int i = 0; i < numVertex; i++) {
matrix[i] = new int[numVertex];
}
for (int i = 0; i < numVertex; i++) { //mark all matrix cells as false
for (int j = 0; j < numVertex; j++) {
matrix[i][j] = 0;
}
}
}
The line I'm confused about is:
matrix = (int**) new int*[numVertex]; //make matrix
What does the (int**) aspect do? Why would I choose to use this instead of matrix = new int**[numVertex];?
Thanks so much!

Answer 1

(int**)value is a C-style cast operation.
Notes:
Don't use those in C++, it tends to cause or hide problems, like mismatches between right and left side of an assignment.
The code is relatively low quality, proper C++ would rather use std::vector.
The code is also not complete, so little can be said with certainty about how it functions.

Answer 2

Note that matrix = new int**[numVertex]; as mentioned by you would create (for this example) a 3D array, because you'd have numVertex entries of int**.
The (int**) cast does not accomplish much, if anything at all, because if matrix is of type int**, there is no need for the cast (you get back an int** already from the new).

Answer 3

If column dimension is fixed, you can use vector of array there.
godbolt
wandbox
#include <vector>
#include <array>
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
template<typename T, int col>
using row_templ = std::array<T,col>;
template<typename T, int col, template <typename,int> typename U = row_templ>
using mat_templ = std::vector<U<T,col>>;
int main()
{
constexpr int numVertex = 30;
constexpr int numEdge = 30;
constexpr int numCol = numVertex;
int numRow = numEdge;
using row_t = row_templ<int, numCol>; // alias to the explicit class template specialization
using mat_t = mat_templ<int, numCol>;
auto make_mat = [&](){ return mat_t(numRow); }; // define a maker if lazy
mat_t my_mat(numRow);
mat_t my_mat2 = make_mat(); // or just use our maker
// Due to that default allocator uses value initialization, a.k.a T().
// At this point, all positions are value init to int(), which is zero,
// from value init of array<int, col>() by the default allocator.
// numVertex x numEdge is one solid contaguous chunk and now ready to roll.
// range for
for (row_t r : my_mat) {
for (int n : r) {
std::cout << std::setw(4) << n;
}
std::cout << '\n';
}
// classic for
for (int i = 0; i < numRow; ++i) {
for (int j = 0; j < numCol; ++j) {
std::cout << std::setw(4) << (my_mat2[i][j] = i*numRow + numCol);
}
std::cout << '\n';
}
}