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

Subject: Re: [boost] [smart_ptr] scoped_array / shared_array (size_t) constructor
From: Richard Hadsell (hadsell_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-10-31 18:52:48

On 10/31/2011 05:26 PM, Olaf van der Spek wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 9:51 PM, Andrey Semashev
> <andrey.semashev_at_[hidden]>  wrote:
>> 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?
Yes, it matters.  You can test a scoped_array to see whether anything is allocated.  You can't determine that its size is 0.

If you want to implement this feature, you would have to advertise this as a change in the interface, not just a new feature, because, as people have pointed out, 0 would map to the size constructor rather than the default pointer.

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