C++

20.6    Raw Pointers

Whenever I have shown you an example with raw pointers, I have tried to make sure to discourage you from using them. That was intentionally phrased a bit too strictly. You can (or even should) use such a pointer when the pointer does not own the object, meaning it is not responsible for its removal via delete:

int getSize(const Rect *r) { return r->size(); } // raw pointer as argumentint main() {    Rect srect{8,12};    cout << getSize( &srect );       // get address of stack object    unique_ptr<Rect> urect{new Rect{10,20}};    cout << getSize( urect.get() );  // get raw pointer from smart pointer}  

It goes without saying that you could just as well have used a reference as a parameter here:

int getSize(const Rect &r) { return r.size(); } ...