Sams Teach Yourself C++ in One Hour a Day, Seventh Edition

Lesson 26. Understanding Smart Pointers

C++ programmers do not necessarily need to use plain pointer types when managing memory on the heap (or the free store); they can make use of smart pointers.

In this lesson, you learn

• What smart pointers are and why you need them

• How smart pointers are implemented

• Different smart pointer types

• Why you should not use the deprecated std::auto_ptr

• The C++11 Standard Library smart pointer std::unique_ptr

• Popular smart pointer libraries

What Are Smart Pointers?

Very simply said, a smart pointer in C++ is a class with overloaded operators, which behaves like a conventional pointer. Yet, it supplies additional value by ensuring proper and timely destruction of dynamically allocated data and facilitates ...