title: Why can't I omit the dimensions altogether when initializing a multi-dimensional array?
body: <p>In Visual Studio 2010, this initialization works as expected:</p>
  
  <pre><code>char table[2][2] = {
                         {'a', 'b'},
                         {'c', 'd'}
                     };
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But it does not seem legal to write something like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>char table[][] = {
                       {'a', 'b'},
                       {'c', 'd'}
                   };
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Visual Studio complains that this array may not contain elements of 'that' type, and after compiling, VS reports two errors: a missing index and too many initializations.</p>
  
  <p><strong>QUESTION</strong>: Why can't I omit the dimensions altogether when initializing a multi-dimensional array? </p>