Recently I was trying to add shaders to my game.

I have gotten it to work but I feel like this code is too "shonky" and too C-style.

Any suggestions for ways to clean this code up and remove the dangerous C-style casts would be welcome.

std::string shader_file;
std::ifstream is(shader_src);
is >> shader_file;
is.close();

GLchar *shader_file_c = new GLchar[shader_file.length() + 1];
std::strcpy(shader_file_c, shader_file.c_str());
delete[] shader_file_c;

GLint len = shader_file.length();
glShaderSourceARB(shader_frag, 1, (const GLchar **) &shader_file_c, &len);

glCompileShaderARB(shader_frag);
glAttachObjectARB(shader_prog, shader_frag);
glLinkProgramARB(shader_prog);

That's odd, because the shaders are working fine

Well, I've fixed it now, here is the new code:

The reason its longer is because I've now included the whole function

GLuint shader_frag = 0;
GLuint shader_prog = 0;

shader_prog = glCreateProgram();
shader_frag = glCreateShader(GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER);

std::string shader_file;
std::ifstream is(shader_src);
std::string temp_str;
while (is >> temp_str)
    shader_file += temp_str + ' ';
is.close();
std::cout << shader_file << std::endl;

GLchar *shader_file_c = new GLchar[shader_file.length() + 1];
std::strcpy(shader_file_c, shader_file.c_str());

GLint len = shader_file.length();
glShaderSource(shader_frag, 1, (const GLchar **) &shader_file_c, &len);
delete[] shader_file_c;

glCompileShader(shader_frag);


glAttachShader(shader_prog, shader_frag);
glLinkProgram(shader_prog);

return shader_prog;

I'd revisit Hodgman's suggestion.

It removes the need for new and std:strcpy calls when you set your GLchar array.

Then shows that your double indirection cast is unnecessary when you set your temporary glShaderSource which btw can be glDeleteShader()'d after program link.

I think you felt you needed that cast because you didn't declare your GLchar* shader_file_c as constant to begin with.