Re: [boost] Usefulness of weak_ptr

From: Greg Colvin (gcolvin_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-02-08 22:11:52

>    I just downloaded weak_ptr, and I was wondering how useful it is.  What
> can you do with a weak_ptr<T> that you can't do with a plain T*?

One common use is to keep a cache of shared objects.  The cache can
be implemented as a container of weak_ptr, so that just being in
the cache doesn't prevent an object from being deleted when the last
shared_ptr to the object goes away.