Re: smart pointers [was Work in progress list? And how about a singleton?]

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-11-16 22:02:40

At 02:48 PM 11/15/2001, Kevin Cline wrote:

 > > Look at the smart pointer classes -- in my code, I have a header that
 >simply
 > > imports the boost smart pointers and STL smart pointer, and adds two 
of
 >my
 > > own:
 > >   scoped_ptr
 > >   scoped_array
 > >   auto_ptr
 > >   auto_array [1]
 > >   shared_ptr
 > >   shared_array
 > >   mt_shared_ptr [1]
 > >
 > > There has been some talk on this list about using policy classes, and
 >having
 > > a single smart pointer generator.  We could allow different 
deallocation
 > > mechanisms, different sharing capabilities, hooks for user 
callbacks...
 >But
 > > how many users would ever use them?  We'd be adding a lot of 
complexity
 >with
 > > a small payback.
 >
 >I would support that.  Loki::SmartPtr has more functionality than those
 >seven put together, and I found it easier to understand.

There have been private conversations with Andrei recently, and I'm hoping 
he will be able to submit Loki::SmartPtr to Boost soon.

The discussions view the possibility of treating the current boost smart 
pointers as specific instances of Loki::SmartPtr.  In effect, typedef 
templates, to be simulated using inheritance.

More later,

--Beman