Re: [boost] [smart_ptr] scoped_array / shared_array (size_t) constructor

Subject: Re: [boost] [smart_ptr] scoped_array / shared_array (size_t) constructor
From: Olaf van der Spek (ml_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-10-31 17:26:16

On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 9:51 PM, Andrey Semashev
<andrey.semashev_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>> Is (almost) nobody using scoped/shared_array?
>
> I'm using it, from time to time. Frankly, I'm not sure there's much value in
> the suggested improvement. Smart pointers are not containers, so there's no
> need to follow the interface, especially considering ambiguities like
> boost::scoped_array<unsigned char> A(0); (is 0 a null pointer or a zero size
> of the array here?). Zero sized arrays are quite valid when dynamically
> allocated (the allocation result is not NULL in this case), so you can't
> always initialize the pointer to NULL in this case.

Why not? Does the pointer matter if the size is 0?

> FWIW, I would rather prefer make_scoped_array and make_shared_array function
> templates for this purpose, much like make_shared we already have. Of course,
> scoped_array would have to support move semantics in order to do that. In
> conjunction with auto keyword, one would not have to duplicate the array
> element type.

Not everybody can use C++11 yet...

-- 
Olaf