Re: [Boost-users] non nullable smart pointers

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] non nullable smart pointers
From: Thorsten Ottosen (thorsten.ottosen_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-11-15 05:49:07

Brendan Miller skrev:
> I've been interested in non nullable smart pointers for a while. I
> noticed a thread I wanted to check if anyone was still interested in
> doing it:
> http://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2008/04/135616.php
> 
> This seems like a worthwhile activity. Null is a legacy element from C
> that essentially breaks type safety.

FWIW, Boost.PtrContainer does not allow you to put nulls in containers; 
if you want nulls you have to ask for it:

   boost::ptr_vector< boost::nullable<T> > vec;

I guess it would be trivial to add something like

   typedef boost::shared_ptr< boost::non_null<T> > ptr_type;

which would not be default constructible, and which would throw if you 
inserted a null (rather than providing a check in operator->).

Peter, is that something that has been considered?

-Thorsten