C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices

52. Copy and destroy consistently

Summary

What you create, also clean up: If you define any of the copy constructor, copy assignment operator, or destructor, you might need to define one or both of the others.

Discussion

If you need to define any of these three functions, it means you need it to do more than its default behavior—and the three are asymmetrically interrelated. Here’s how:

• If you write/disable either the copy constructor or the copy assignment operator, you probably need to do the same for the other: If one does “special” work, probably so should the other because the two functions should have similar effects. (See Item 53, which expands on this point in isolation.)

• If you explicitly write the copying functions, you probably ...