Smart pointers

Hi,
I was told that my code will be greatly simplified if I start using smart pointers available in C++11. However, it is kind of hard for me to get the syntax.

In the old way I simply write:

Code:

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std::vector<Foo *> m_myVector;
m_myVector.push_back( new Foo( <constructor_parameter_list> ) );

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How it will convert using the new syntax?

Thank you.

Code:

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std::vector<unique_ptr<Foo>> m_myVector;
m_myVector.push_back(make_unique<Foo>(<constructor_parameter_list>));

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For a compilable example consider

Code:

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        using Foo = int;

        std::vector<std::unique_ptr<Foo>> m_myVector;
        m_myVector.push_back(make_unique<Foo>(20));

        std::cout << *m_myVector.back() << std::endl;

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you'll also need to include <memory>

For more info see https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/memory

when m_myvector goes out of scope, all the memory used by the unique_ptr's will be freed automatically.


Note that a unique_ptr can't be copied - only moved. If you need a smart pointer that can be copied use shared_ptr and make_shared().

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OneEyeMan

How it will convert using the new syntax?

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Something like this,

Code:

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        #include <memory>
//
        class Foo {};
//
        std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Foo>> m_myVector;
//
        m_myVector.push_back(std::make_shared<Foo>(/* <constructor_parameter_list> */));

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The C++ type usually referred to as "smart pointer" is called std::shared_ptr.

std::make_shared is a convenience function that's often used to create std::shared_ptr<> objects.