thor::MovedPtr< T > Class Template Reference

Smart pointer with move semantics. More...

List of all members.

Public Member Functions
	MovedPtr ()
	Default constructor.
	MovedPtr (T *pointer)
	Constructor from raw pointer.
	MovedPtr (MovedPtr &origin)
	Move constructor.
	~MovedPtr ()
	Destructor.
MovedPtr &	operator= (MovedPtr &origin)
	Move assignment operator.
void	Swap (MovedPtr &other)
	Swaps the pointers of *this and other.
void	Reset ()
	Resets the internal pointer to NULL.
void	Reset (T *pointer)
	Resets the internal pointer to the passed value.
T *	Release ()
	Transfers ownership of the held object to the caller.
	operator SafeBool () const
	Checks whether the pointer currently points to NULL.
T &	operator* () const
	Dereferences the pointer.
T *	operator-> () const
	Dereferences the pointer for member access.
T *	Get () const
	Permits access to the internal pointer. Designed for rare use.
Related Functions
template<typename T >
void	thor::swap (MovedPtr< T > &lhs, MovedPtr< T > &rhs)
	Swaps two MovedPtr<T> instances.

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Detailed Description

template<typename T>
class thor::MovedPtr< T >

Smart pointer with move semantics.

Template Parameters:

T	The pointee type

This type of smart pointer allows movable objects - that is, copies and assignments transfer ownership. Because of that, these operations modify the origin, which can be counter-intuitive, as it doesn't behave like usual value semantics. Besides, every instance is unique, no two MovedPtr objects can point to the same object (but both can point to NULL).

Why another movable smart pointer, if there's already std::auto_ptr? There are some reasons:

• At auto_ptr, the pointee type T must be known at declaration (in fact, some implementations don't force it to be known, resulting in no destruction of the object when using delete, what's even worse).
• No method or conversion operator to check for NULL (get()'s purpose is to obtain the internal pointer)
• No swap() method
• Different naming convention, which complicates the interaction between different smart pointer types
• std::auto_ptr is deprecated in C++0x (but std::unique_ptr is not available for C++98)

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Constructor & Destructor Documentation

template<typename T>

thor::MovedPtr< T >::MovedPtr

(

)

Default constructor.

Initializes the smart pointer with a null pointer. This operation doesn't require T to be defined.

template<typename T>

thor::MovedPtr< T >::MovedPtr

(

T *

pointer

)

[explicit]

Constructor from raw pointer.

Parameters:

pointer

The initial pointer value, either pointing to an object allocated by the new operator or to NULL. If the dynamic type of pointer is a class derived from T, then T must have a virtual destructor.

template<typename T>

thor::MovedPtr< T >::MovedPtr

(

MovedPtr< T > &

origin

)

Move constructor.

Transfers ownership from origin to *this. After this operation, origin is empty.

template<typename T>

thor::MovedPtr< T >::~MovedPtr

(

)

Destructor.

Destroys the object and deallocates the corresponding memory. For null pointers, nothing happens.

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Member Function Documentation

template<typename T>

T* thor::MovedPtr< T >::Get

(

)

const

Permits access to the internal pointer. Designed for rare use.

Returns:

Internally used pointer, use it wisely not to upset the MovedPtr's memory management.

template<typename T>

thor::MovedPtr< T >::operator SafeBool

(

)

const

Checks whether the pointer currently points to NULL.

This allows you to write statements of the form if(ptr) or if(!ptr) in a type-safe way (ptr refers to a smart-pointer instance). The actual return type is implementation-defined.

Returns:

bool-like value that behaves in conditional expressions like true, if the pointer is valid; and like false, if it points to NULL.

template<typename T>

T& thor::MovedPtr< T >::operator*

(

)

const

Dereferences the pointer.

Precondition:

The smart pointer must be non-empty.

template<typename T>

T* thor::MovedPtr< T >::operator->

(

)

const

Dereferences the pointer for member access.

Precondition:

The smart pointer must be non-empty.

template<typename T>

MovedPtr& thor::MovedPtr< T >::operator=

(

MovedPtr< T > &

origin

)

Move assignment operator.

Transfers ownership from origin to *this. After this operation, origin is empty.

template<typename T>

T* thor::MovedPtr< T >::Release

(

)

Transfers ownership of the held object to the caller.

Upon invoking Release(), the caller becomes responsible for the memory management of the returned pointer. This instance points to null after the operation.

template<typename T>

void thor::MovedPtr< T >::Reset

(

)

Resets the internal pointer to NULL.

Destroys the current object, and sets the internal pointer to NULL. This operation doesn't require T to be defined.

template<typename T>

void thor::MovedPtr< T >::Reset

(

T *

pointer

)

Resets the internal pointer to the passed value.

Destroys the current object, and re-assigns the pointer.

Parameters:

pointer

The new pointer value, either pointing to an object allocated by the new operator or to NULL. If the dynamic type of pointer is a class derived from T, then T must have a virtual destructor.

template<typename T>

void thor::MovedPtr< T >::Swap

(

MovedPtr< T > &

other

)

Swaps the pointers of *this and other.

Swap() doesn't operate on the object itself, only on the pointer. T may be incomplete at invocation.

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The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

• SmartPtr/MovedPtr.hpp