Reading from a CSV file in C++
Storing char* in a vector leads to leaks. instead use std::string, which will manage its own buffer and delete it as needed.

vector&lt;string&gt; values;


inserting to the back of a vector can be done with push_back or you can construct in place with emplace_back in C++11:

while(in.getline(thisVal,MAXSIZE,',')) {
    string str(thisVal);
    values.push_back(std::move(str));
    //std::move signals that I won't be using str anymore and that the underlying buffer can just be passed through to the new element. 
    // After this str will not be valid. You can still assign to it normally but until you do any result of calling a method on it will be implementation defined.
}


or

while(in.getline(thisVal,MAXSIZE,',')) {
    values.emplace_back(thisVal);
}


Failing to open a file is common enough to use an explicit if and print an error message instead of asserting (which won't do anything when compiled as a release version):

if(!in.is_open()){
    cerr &lt;&lt; "failed to open file.";
    return 1; 
}


I return 1 here to signal to the OS that the program didn't finish successfully and a script using it can then react to it.