Re: uncounted_ptr

From: William Kempf (sirwillard_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-01-10 11:44:53

--- In boost_at_[hidden], "Greg Colvin" <greg_at_c...> wrote:
> From: William Kempf <sirwillard_at_m...>
> > That said, I would be very interested in a smart pointer that 
> > performed similarly to a full blown GC.  In fact, I'd prefer this 
> > over a real GC.  It would give me complete control when I needed 
it, 
> > including the use of RAII harnesses, while making it much simpler 
to 
> > program some constructs in which memory management is the hardest 
> > issue to deal with.  So my personal vote would be for such a 
> > submission.  I don't know if the circ_ptr in the vault qualifies, 
if 
> > what you have in mind should be considered instead, or if both 
have 
> > pros and cons and should both be considered/accepted.
> 
> The cyclic_ptr at www.boost.org/libs/smart_ptr/smarttest.zip
> as described at www.boost.org/libs/smart_ptr/smarttests.htm
> might fit your bill.  It includes a weak_ptr as well.  You
> might also like www.egroups.com/files/boost/GarbageCollector/

You see, I'm not expert enough on this subject to properly evaluate 
the solutions.  That's why I said I don't know if the stuff in the 
vault compares.  I'll leave this decision up to those who know better 
and just make use of the result ;).

> And what is an RAII harness?

Resource Acquisition In Initialization.  It's the principle behind 
std::auto_ptr and numerous other C++ constructs.  RAII is not 
possible (or feasable, at least) in garbage collected languages 
because you don't know when (or if) the object will be collected.  So 
even if such a language included destructors (most don't) you rarely 
can make use of RAII harnesses.

Bill Kmepf