//at class constructor boost::multi_array<char, 2> array2d = new boost::multi_array<char, 2>(boost::extents[x][y]);
//at class method boost::multi_array<char, 1> array1d = array2d[0];
I tried out those two lines (minus the "new") here (see below), and they compile without complaints in g++ 4.1.2. Yung-Chin -- contents of test file -- #include <iostream> #include <boost/multi_array.hpp> int main() { size_t x = 5; size_t y = 7; boost::multi_array<char, 2> array2d = boost::multi_array<char, 2>(boost::extents[x][y]); std::cout << array2d.num_dimensions() << std::endl; std::cout << array2d[0].num_dimensions() << std::endl; boost::multi_array<char, 1> array1d = array2d[0]; std::cout << array1d.num_dimensions() << std::endl; return 0; } //main