Smart Pointers: They're Smart, but They're Not Pointers (1992)
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| Venue: | IN C++ CONFERENCE |
| Citations: | 25 - 0 self |
BibTeX
@INPROCEEDINGS{Edelson92smartpointers:,
author = {Daniel R. Edelson},
title = {Smart Pointers: They're Smart, but They're Not Pointers},
booktitle = {IN C++ CONFERENCE},
year = {1992},
pages = {1--19},
publisher = {Usenix}
}
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Abstract
There are numerous times when a C ++ user could benefit from a pointer variant that has more functionality than is provided by the basic, language-defined pointer. For example, type-accurate garbage collection, reference counting, or transparent references to distributed or persistent objects, might be implemented with classes that provide pointer functionality. The C ++ language directly supports one kind of pointer substitute, the smart pointer, in the form of overloadable indirection operators: -? and . In this paper we evaluate how seamlessly smart pointers can replace raw pointers. The ideal is for client code not to care whether it is using raw pointers or smart pointers. For example, if a typedef selects whether raw or smart pointers are used throughout the program, changing the value of the typedef should not introduce syntax errors. Unfortunately, C ++ does not support pointer substitutes well enough to permit seamless integration. This paper presents the desired behavi...
