[boost] My take on an allocate_shared_array and make_shared_array implementation

Subject: [boost] My take on an allocate_shared_array and make_shared_array implementation
From: Glen Fernandes (glen.fernandes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-07-31 17:52:58

Hi all,

I've desired an allocate_shared_array for a while (and, looking at some
existing threads about the topic, it seems others have also). Recently,
while working with a code base that accepted both shared_ptr<T> and
shared_array<T> for a sequence of T elements, I decided to write both (for
shared_ptr<T> since shared_array<T> does not support allocators).

The code for both my make_array<T> and allocate_array<T> initial
implementation can be found at:
https://github.com/glenfe/glenfern/tree/master/glenfern

I was wondering if there is any desire for these (after necessary tweaking,
refinement, and testing) to become part of Boost. I'm not certain how
useful they are in their current form for people using shared_array<T> that
can't switch to shared_ptr<T>.

Is there any desire to update shared_array<T> so that it supports custom
allocators? In that event, my implementation can then easily be applied to
shared_array<T> as well. Alternatively, are there any plans to provide a
separate smart pointer type for an array with allocator support?

Cheers,
Glen