The Need For Smart Pointers

Manual memory management requires to explicitly deallocate memory, or it can lead to memory leaks, which are notoriously hard to track. This makes the need for a tool that handles allocation and proper deallocation obvious.

Smart Pointers Introduction

Smart pointers are objects that automate memory management, even for dynamic memory. There are three kinds of smart pointers.

Smart pointers use object-oriented programming to automate memory management. They are essentially class templates, allowing them to handle different data types while utilizing constructors and destructors for allocation and deallocation. When a smart pointer is created, its constructor is called and when it goes out of scope, the destructor handles cleanup.

smart_pointer.h


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template <typename T>
class SmartPointer {
public:
    SmartPointer(T* pointer) 
      : pointer(pointer) {}

    ~SmartPointer() { delete ptr; }

    T* Get() { return pointer; }
private:
    T* pointer;
};

To use smart pointers, you need to include the <memory> header file.

including_memory.h


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#include <memory>

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Sezione 1. Capitolo 3

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Contenuti del Corso

C++ Smart Pointers

1. Introduction to Smart Pointers

Understanding Pointers Dynamic memory allocation The Need For Smart Pointers

2. Unique Pointers

Introduction to Unique Pointers Moving Unique Pointers Application For Unique Pointers Passing Around Unique Pointers Methods of a Unique Pointer

3. Shared Pointers

Introduction to Shared Pointers Creating and Sharing Shared Pointers Circular References and Shared Pointers

4. Weak Pointers

Introduction to Weak Pointers Creating And Using Weak Pointers Breaking Circular References With Weak Pointers Important Weak Pointer Functions

5. Advanced topics

Providing Custom Deleters For Smart Pointers Performance Considerations With Smart Pointers Overview Shared vs Unique vs Weak Pointers